UC-NRLF 


EXCHANGE 


BY  WILLIAM    CHARLES    HILMER 


tjni 


Cf)e  3^tme  in  g)tj)tUer's 


BY 
WILLIAM  CHARLES  HILMER 

B.  A.  German  Wallace  College,  1899 


THESIS 

Submitted  in  Partial  Fulfillment  of  the  Requirements  for  the 
Degree  of 

DOCTOR  OF  PHILOSOPHY 

In  German 

In  the  Graduate  School  of  the 

UNIVERSITY   OF    ILLINOIS 


CINCINNATI 

PRESS  OF  JENNINGS  AND  GRAHAM 

1911 


PREFACE 

As  a  basis  for  my  investigation  of  the  rime  in 
Schiller's  poems,  I  have  used  Goedeke's  Historisch- 
kritische  Ausgabe  of  1 87 1.  In  this  edition  Schiller's 
"Jugendversuche"  are  arranged  chronologically  in 
the  first  volume.  Volume  eleven  contains  a  similar 
arrangement  of  all  poems  from  1794  to  1805,  while 
the  intervening  volumes  contain,  though  scattered, 
the  poems  written  during  the  time  generally  desig- 
nated as  the  second  period. 

Goedeke  gives  a  complete  text  of  all  authentic 
poems  with  all  variant  readings,  so  that  by  means 
of  these  practically  all  previous  editions  can  be  en- 
tirely reconstructed. 

It  seems  advisable  for  my  purpose  to  retain  the 
generally  adopted  plan  of  recognizing  three  periods 
in  the  poet's  works  (see  page  13).  His  works  and 
his  life  during  these  respective  periods  are  so  very 
closely  knit  together,  that  each  period  is  an  integral 
unit  in  itself.  For  this  reason,  it  is  not  wise  to 
shift  the  lines  of  demarcation  between  the  periods, 
even  though  it  might  be  more  convenient  to  do  so 
in  the  present  study. 

By  actual  count  we  find  that  Schiller  used  2305 
rimes  in  the  first  period.  The  poems  in  which  these 
occur   are   contained    in    Goedeke,   volumes    I,    II, 

III,  and  IV  to  page  20. 

The  poems  of  the  second  period  comprise  2120 
rimes.     These  poems  we  find  in  Goedeke,  volume 

IV,  page  21,  to  volume  XI,  page  96. 

3 


251828 


PREFACE 

The  poems  of  the  third  period,  found  in  Goedeke, 
volume  XI,  page  97,  to  the  end  of  volume  XV, 
contain  2277  rimes. 

In  the  citation  of  impure  rimes,  reference  is  made 
to  the  text  in  each  case  as  follows:  I,  48,  equals 
volume  I,  page  48,  in  like  manner  VI,  54. 

By  means  of  these  divisions  we  can  easily  group 
together  all  impure  rimes  belonging  to  each  period, 
since  we  have  definitely  determined  the  volumes 
and  pages  constituting  the  limits  of  each  period. 
Then,  since  each  period  represents  a  certain  num- 
ber of  rimes  actually  used,  a  comparison  showing 
the  decrease  in  the  number  of  imperfect  rimes  from 
one  period  to  another  is  easily  made. 

It  would  be  presumptuous  for  me  to  claim  that 
my  list  of  rime  imperfections  is  absolutely  exhaust- 
ive. But  I  do  claim  to  have  covered  the  ground 
carefully  and  noted  every  instance  that  came  to  my 
attention,  except  the  a:  e  rime,  which  phonetically 
approaches  perfection,  also  in  the  "Schriftsprache." 
Though  this  type  is  discussed  and  many  cases  of 
its  occurrence  quoted  in  a  later  chapter,  no  complete 
list  of  all  cases  is  given. 


TABLE  OF  CONTENTS 

Introduction 7 

I.  Vowels  Riming  with  Vowels 15 

1.  Short  a  with  long  a 16 

2.  Short  e  with  long  e 19 

3.  Short  i  with  long  i 20 

4.  Short  0  with  long  0 21 

5.  Short  u  with  long  u 22 

6.  e  with  i 23 

7.  0  with  w 24 

11.  Pure  Vowels  Riming  with  Umlauts  26 

1.  Short  d  :  short  e,  long  «  :  long  e,  long 

<2  :  short  e 27 

2.  a.  with  short  or  long  l 29 

3.  Short  0  :  short  e,  long  0  :  long  e,  long 

0    :  short  e 30 

4.  Long   0   with   short   i,    long   0    with 

long  f 34 

5.  Short   u   with   short   e,   long   i/   with 

long  e 34 

6.  Short  u    :  short  i,  long  m    :   long  i, 

long  w    :  short  i 35 

III.  Umlauts  Riming  with  Umlauts.  ...  46 

1.  Short  a   with   short    '6,   long  a   with 

long  0 47 

2.  Short   a   w^ith   short    «^   long  a   with 

long  w 48 

5 


CONTENTS 

IV.  Diphthongs. 

1.  ai  riming  with  eu 50 

2.  ai  riming  with  au 50 

3.  ei  riming  with  eu 51 

4.  ei  riming  with  au 53 

V.  Consonants. 

1.  d  riming  with   / 56 

2.  ff  riming  with  k 60 

3.  s  riming  with  ss 60 

VI.  Rimes  Impure  in  Vowels  and  Conso- 
nants  (doppelt  unrein) 65 

VII.  Full  Rimes  (Reiche  Reime) 68 

VIII.  The  Waning  of  Swabian  Influence 
AND  the  Resulting  Improvement  in 
Rime 71 

IX.  Schiller's  Revision  of  Earlier  Poems   85 


INTRODUCTION 

When  Schiller  first  began  to  write  poetry,  his 
theoretical  knowledge  of  versification  was  extremely 
limited.  Even  as  late  as  1795  he  writes  to  Hum- 
boldt:^ "Ich  bin  der  roheste  Empiriker  im  Vers- 
bau,  denn  auszer  Moritz'  kleiner  Schrift  iiber  Pro- 
sodie  erinnere  ich  mich  auch  gar  nichts,  selbst  nicht 
auf  Schulen  dariiber  gelesen  zu  haben."  As  it  ap- 
pears, the  only  influence  this  essay  had  on  Schiller, 
was  to  strengthen  his  preference  for  the  rime,  and 
we  dare  say  it  was  fortunate  that  he  was  left  to 
follow  his  innate  feeling  for  rythm,  which  remained 
unspoiled  by  the  teachings  of  ancient  Metrics. 

We  shall  judge  more  kindly  as  well  as  more  in- 
telligently, the  imperfections  of  his  "Jugendver- 
suche",  at  least,  when  we  recall  conditions  in  gen- 
eral and  his  own  immediate  surroundings  in  par- 
ticular. 

The  fifteenth  and  sixteenth  century  presents  great 
confusion  in  the  field  of  German  metrics.  Verses 
were  commonly  written  only  by  means  of  counting 
syllables,  regardless  of  any  other  regulations. 

Martin  Opitz  put  an  end  to  the  existing  confu- 
sion by  establishing  definite  rules  for  versification 
in  his  Buck  von  der  deutschen  Poeterey,  1624.  This 
marks  the  birth  of  a  new  period  in  German  poetry. 
Instead  of  counting  the  syllables  he  introduced  the 
versification  according  to  accent  and  stress. 

^  Brief wechsel   zwischen    Schiller   u.    Humboldt,    Stuttgart,    1893, 
S.   202. 


INTRODUCTION 

What  concerns  us,  however,  here  chiefly,  is  the 
early  conception  of  the  nature  of  the  rime  and  its 
development  before  Schiller's  time. 

Rudolf  Hildebrand^  maintains,  that,  to  secure  a 
perfect  rime  not  only  similarity  in  the  riming  syl- 
lables is  essential,  but  also  dissimilarity,  i.  e.,  simi- 
larity in  the  stressed  and  rimed  vowels,  but  dissimi 
larity  in  the  consonants  preceding  the  rime  vowel 
He  furthermore  insists  that  the  beauty  of  the  rime 
grows  in  proportion  as  this  dissimilarity  increases. 

He  tests  his  own  statement  in  the  following  man- 
ner :  Which  rime  do  you  prefer  ?  Kreis  —  Greis  or 
Gleis  —  Greis.  He  says  the  answer  is  always  in 
favor  of  the  latter,  simply  because  the  difference 
preceding  the  rime  vowel  is  greater  in  Gleis  —  Greis 
than  it  is  in  Kreis  —  Greis.,  The  same  thing  will 
be  increasingly  apparent  in  rimes  like:  tragen  — 
ragen,  bringen  —  dringen,  Kranz  —  Glanz,  blau  — 
grau,  Stein  —  Rhein,  etc.  Thus  we  see  that  the 
true  artistic  beauty  of  the  rime  develops  out  of  con- 
cord and  discord. 

Opitz  well  understood  this  essential  and  expressed 
it  as  follows  ( Poeterey,  chapter  7 ) : 

"Ueber  disz,  die  letzte  Sylbe  in  den  mannlichen 
und  letzten  swo  in  den  weiblichen  Reimen  soUen 
nicht  in  alien  Buchstaben  gleich  sein,  als  in  einem 
weiblichen  Reim: 

Wir  sollen  Fremdlingen  gar  billig  Ehr  erzeigen, 
Und  so  viel  moglich  ist,  ein  willig  Hertze  zeigen.'* 

Schottelius^  gives  expression  to  the  same  thought: 
"Die  Reimung  besteht  eigentlich  nur  recht  darin, 

1  Beitrage  sum  deutschen   Unterricht,  Leipzig,   1897,  p.   172  ff. 

2  Ausfiihrliche  Arbeit  von   der  Deutschen  Hauptsprache,    Braun- 

schweig,  1663,  S.  860. 

8 


INTRODUCTION 

wenn  der  Reimlaut  vornan  (vor  sich)  die  Mit- 
lautern  verandert.  Also  wenn  man  sagt:  Land, 
Hand,  Band,  Brand,  etc." 

August  Buchner,  a  friend  of  Opitz,  agrees  to  the 
same  idea  in  his  Anleitung  zur  Deutschen  Poeterey.^ 

Independently  of  Opitz,  Christian  Weise^  estab- 
lishes the  same  principle :  "Vor  eins  sieht  man  zwar 
auf  die  Syllben,  die  einen  gleichen  Ton  von  sich 
geben,  doch  der  erste  Buchstabe  vor  der  Syllbe  musz 
anders  sein." 

From  these  references  we  see  that  the  real  essen- 
tials of  the  rime  were  fully  understood  during  the 
seventeenth  century,  though  the  early  eighteenth  cen- 
tury marks  a  decadence  of  this  clear  conception. 

J.  G.  Neukirch^  (just  one  hundred  years  after 
the  publishing  of  Opitz'  Poeterey)  has  either  for- 
gotten to  express  or  does  not  know  that  the  dis- 
agreement of  the  consonants  preceding  the  riming 
syllables  is  an  essential  to  good  rime;  for  he  speaks 
"von  den  letzten  Sylben,  welche  auf  einen  gleichen 
Klang  oder  Reim  ausgehen." 

Breitinger^  does  not  consider  it  necessary  to  give 
a  definition  of  the  rime,  but  simply  takes  that  for 
granted. 

Gottsched^  speaks  of  the  rime  only  as  a  "Gleich- 
laut  der  letzten  Sylben  in  zwoen  Zeilen ;"  similarly 
in  his  Worterbuch  der  Wissenschaften  und  freien 
Kiinste/  the  definition  of  rime  is  given  as  "der  iiber- 

1  Wittenberg,   1665,  S.   158. 
Curiose  Gedanken' von  Deutsclien   Versen,  Leipzig,   1893. 

3  Anfangsgrilnde  zur  reinen  teutschen  Poesie,  Halle,  1724,  S.  27. 

4  Critische  Dichtkunst,  Zurich,   1740,  S.  460. 

5  Versuch  einer  critischen  Dichtkunst,  4.   Auflage,   Leipzig,    1751, 

s.  75. 

6  Leipzig,   1760. 


INTRODUCTION 

einstimmende  Klang  der  letzten  Sylbe  in  verschie- 
denen  Zeilen  eines  Gedichtes." 

We  might  continue  with  similar  definitions,  but 
this  is  sufficient  to  show  the  tendency  of  the  eight- 
eenth century.  It  is,  however,  only  fair  to  say  that 
the  opinion  of  writers  on  this  point  continues  to 
waver  even  up  to  the  present  time  between  the  clear 
expression  of  Opitz  and  the  entire  non-committal 
of  Neukirch. 

The  fact  that  Opitz,  in  spite  of  his  clear  state- 
ments on  the  rime,  as  expressed  in  his  Buck  von  der 
deutchen  Poeterey,  makes  use  of  rimes  like :  Poeten 
—  von  nothen,  erhort  —  lehrt,  Freude  —  Leide,  ge- 
neiget  —  gezeuget,  fiir  —  dir,  etc.,^  brings  us  to 
another  important  phase  of  the  rime,  viz.:  the  pro- 
nunciation. 

If  Opitz  used  the  above  rimes,  we  may  at  once 
conclude  that  to  him  e:  6,  ei:  eu,  ii:  i  were  phonetic 
equivalents,  as  they  were  with  Saxons  and  Silesians 
generally.  Then  Opitz  did  only  the  natural  thing, 
and  according  to  his  conception  wrote  the  above 
as  perfect  rimes. 

The  same  is  true  of  the  best  German  poets.  A 
little  incident  occurring  between  Schiller  and  Biir- 
ger  in  1791  is  quite  indicative  of  the  general  con- 
ception of  the  rime  at  this  time.  When  Schiller 
in  his  essay:  "iiber  Burgers  Gedichte"  criticised 
among  others  the  rime  bldhn  —  schon  as  impure, 
Burger  answered:^  "Der  Reim  ist  freilich  nicht  ganz 
rein,  aber  nicht  unreiner  als  die  Reime  in  i  und  ii, 
in  ei  und  eUj  die  sich  unsere  correctesten  Dichter 
gestatten,"  etc.    Burger  might  further  have  objected 

^  Gedichte,  Danzig,   1641. 

'^  Burgers  IVerke  von  Bohtz,  Gottingen,   1835,  S.   134. 

10 


INTRODUCTION 

to  this  criticism  on  the  ground  that  Schiller  took 
no  notice  of  the  rimes:  Lied — Gemiith,  schon  — 
gesehn,  which  occur  in  the  very  same  poem  not  far 
from  the  rime  bldhn  —  schon.  Schiller  evidently 
did  not  see  these  imperfections,  which  to  him  were 
phonetically  pure  rimes. 

Also  Goethe,  when  he  used  the  rime  rother  — 
spdther,  thought  and  spoke  these  umlauts  as  phonetic 
equivalents. 

When  we  find  that  many  German  poets  use  these 
and  similar  rimes,  the  reason  is  not  because  they 
imitate  their  predecessors,  but  because  these  rimes 
are  due  to  the  natural  pronunciation  of  the  poets. 
We  must  therefore  judge  with  moderation  the  rime 
imperfections  of  the  young  poets. 

As  we  have  seen,  the  traditional  forms  had  been 
abandoned  entirely  and  the  forms  introduced  by 
Opitz  had  been  developed  to  a  certain  perfection, 
especially  during  Gellert's  time.  Goethe  also  em- 
ployed these  same  forms  during  his  earliest  period, 
but  with  the  beginning  of  the  "Storm  and  Stress" 
period  he  broke  away  from  them,  as  his  so-called 
"free  rythms"   (Wanderers  Sturmlied,  etc.)   show. 

Because  Schiller  possessed  a  fine  instinct  for  met- 
rical form  even  from  his  early  youth,  he  was  not 
especially  impressed  by  the  clamor  arising  from  the 
Stiirmer  and  Dranger  for  freedom  from  form,  but 
preferred  to  use  and  develop  the  old  rimed  and 
rythmical  verse.  When  other  poets  hesitated  to 
use  the  rime  because  it  lacked  dignity,  Schiller 
showed  preference  for  it  and  sought  to  elevate  its 
dignity. 

When  Herder  at  a  later  period  ridiculed  the  use 
of  the  rime,  Schiller  quickly  declared  himself  in  its 
II 


INTRODUCTION 

favor,^  thereby  giving  expression  to  his  life-long  at- 
titude toward  the  rime.  We  must,  however,  not 
infer  from  this  general  attitude  that  Schiller's  rimes 
became  gradually  faultless;  for,  aside  from  his  dia- 
lectic rimes,  we  shall  find  many  impurities — im- 
purities of  which  also  many  other  poets  are  guilty. 

If  he  rimes  accented  syllables  with  the  unaccented, 
he  takes  but  the  same  liberty  which  Cramer,  Gleim, 
Herder,  Klopstock,  Wieland,  and  others  accorded 
to  themselves  also.  In  fact  we  find  that  the  riming 
of  accented  with  unaccented  syllables  goes  back  as 
far  as  the  Old  High  German  period. 

If  Schiller  replaces  the  rime  by  assonance,  or  even 
dispenses  with  the  agreement  of  the  vowels  entirely, 
we  shall  find  that  this  was  done  by  Cramer,  Schu- 
bart,  and  Goethe  before  him. 

It  is  true  that  Schiller's  early  rimes  contain  many 
imperfections,  yet  these  may  be  accounted  for,  in 
part,  by  his  inexperience  as  a  beginner;  in  part  by 
the  unsettling  tendency  of  the  Storm  and  Stress  pe- 
riod, which  he  could  not  escape  entirely.  But  we 
shall  see  by  careful  investigation  that  the  great  ma- 
jority of  Schiller's  rime  imperfections  arise  from 
his  Swabian  pronunciation.^ 

This  is  true  at  least  for  his  early  years,  before 

^Schiller  writes  to  Goethe,  June  i8,  1798  (Briefwechsel  swi- 
schen  Schiller  und  Goethe,  3.  Ausgabe,  Stuttgart,  1870,  B.  I, 
S.  146) :  "Seine  (Herders)  unversohnliche  Feindschaft  gegen 
den  Reim  ist  mir  auch  viel  zu  weit  getrieben,  und  was  er  da- 
gegen  aufbringt,  halte  ich  bei  weitem  nicht  bedeutend  genug. 
Der  Ursprung  des  Reimes  mag  noch  so  gemein  und  unpoetisch 
sein;  man  musz  sich  an  den  Eindruck  halten,  den  er  macht,  und 
dieser  laszt  sich   durch  kein   Raisonnement  wegdisputieren." 

2  "Schiller  ist  besonders  in  seiner  Jugendzeit  reich  an  dialek- 
tischen  und  unreinen  Reimen.  Konsonanten  und  Vokale  hat  er 
gleich  wenig  beachtet;  er  reimt  Sarge:  Marke,  Rosen:  gegossen, 
Kiisse:  susse,  und  natiirlich  noch  anstossender  als  Goethe,  ge- 
rundete  auf  nichtgerundete  Vokale."  (J.  Minor  —  Ein  Hand- 
buck  Neuhochdeutscher  Metrik,  2.  Auflage,  Strassburg,  1893, 
S.  398.) 

12 


INTRODUCTION 

education  and  other  re-casting  influences  from  the 
North  could  reasonably  be  expected  to  affect  his  na- 
tive pronunciation.  Moreover,  it  is  claimed  by  care- 
ful observers  that  even  the  best  education  wall  over- 
come only  slowly  the  dialectical  coloring  of  the 
speech  of  the  South  German. 

While  the  imperfections  in  regard  to  rime  in 
Schiller's  early  poems  are  thereby  in  no  way  miti- 
gated, it  is  essential  to  bear  in  mind  the  causes  from 
which  they  arise.  We  are  inclined  to  judge  the 
poet's  early  attempts  from  the  standpoint  of  his 
highest  poetic  achievements,  losing  sight  of  the  fact 
that  he  was  then  a  mere  beginner. 

Following  Koerner,  most  of  the  editors  of  Schil- 
ler's works  group  his  poems,  as  his  works  in  gen- 
eral, in  three  periods: 

The  first,  usually  known  as  the  Storm  and  Stress 
period,  embraces  the  years  1 775-1 785. 

The  second  period,  1 785-1 795,  does  not  abound 
so  much  in  poetry  as  in  philosophic  and  historic 
writings. 

In  the  third  period,  1 795-1 805,  it  was  his  highest 
ambition,  in  common  with  Goethe,  to  express  the 
German  "Geistes-  und  Gemiithsleben"  in  the  most 
perfect  forms  of  classic  beauty.  • 


13 


I 

VOWELS  RIMING  WITH  VOWELS 

Before  entering  upon  the  discussion  of  pure-vowel 
rimes  in  particular,  it  will  be  helpful  and  clarifying 
to  make  some  general  statements  with  regard  to 
vowel  quantity. 

No  fixed  and  fast  rule,  which  will  hold  for  vowel 
quantity  under  all  circumstances,  regardless  of  other 
considerations,  can  be  given.  The  quantity  of  a 
vowel  may  depend  upon  its  position  in  the  word  or 
upon  the  position  of  the  word  in  the  sentence. 
( Sievers. ) 

Since  the  latter  half  of  the  fifteenth  century  a 
marked  tendency  toward  lengthening  the  vowel  in 
a  stressed  syllable  is  apparent  in  the  Swabian  dialect. 
Kaufifman  indicates  this  in  the  following  manner: 

MHG.  short  a  becomes  long,  as: 

hal,  hale  from  MHG.  hal  in  Widerhall; 

pracht  from  MHG.  praht,  pracht.    (Km.^  p.  43.) 

Short  e  becomes  long  ^^  as: 
her  from  OHG.  beri,  beere,  Eng.  berry; 
west  from  OHG.  wehsit,  wachst.     (Km.  p.  53.) 

Short  i  becomes  long  i,  as: 
hir  from  MHG.  bir,  Birne; 
kis^  from  MHG.  kirse,  Kirsche.     (Km.  p.  64.) 

*  Kauffman,     Fr.  —  Geschichte    der    schwdbischen    Mundart    im 

Mittelalter  und  in  der  Neuzeit,  Strassburg,  1890. 
^  s  has  the  value  of  sch. 

15 


THE  RIME  IN  SCHILLER'S  POEMS 

Short  0  becomes  long  o,  as: 
fol  from  MHG.  vol,  voll; 
dochtr  from  MHG.  tochter.     (Km.  p.  70.) 

Short  u  becomes  long  u,  as: 
dur  from  Upper  Ger.  and  MHG.  dur,  durch; 
suts  from  MHG.  schurz,  Schiirze.     (Km.  p.  74.) 

From  the  above  examples  we  must,  however,  not 
conclude  that  all  short  vowels  in  the  MHG.  have 
been  lengthened  in  the  Swabian.  Though  even  here 
Kauffman  maintains  that  the  originial  quantity  of 
the  vowel  was  not  strictly  preserved,  but  that  it 
suffered  a  slight  lengthening  (er  "ist  um  ein  mini- 
mum gelangt  worden  zur  halbkiirze"). 

In  spite  of  the  uncertainty  as  regards  vowel  quan- 
tity, he  ventures  the  following  general  rule:  '*Jeder 
mhd.  ictusvocal  hat  sich  in  pausastellung  zu  iiber- 
langem  vocal  entwickelt."  It  is  interesting  to  notice 
that  within  Swabia  itself  vowel  quantity  varies  with 
different  localities.  This  is  apparent  from  the  pre- 
dominance of  long  vowels  in  the  East,  and  short 
vowels  in  the  Sduth. 

I.    Short  a  in  rime  with  long  a. 

Stralet  —  wallet  I,  28 ;  stralet  had  a  long  root 
vowel  through  all  the  older  dialects,  and  wallet  a 
short  one.  The  a  in  wallet  was  probably  pro- 
nounced long  by  Schiller,  according  to  the  Swabian 
tendency,  discussed  at  the  beginning  of  this  chapter. 

In  the  neighborhood  of  nasals,  MHG.  short  a 
becomes  long  a  nasalized,  as:  Swabian  ndme^ 
(MHG.     name,    namme),     Ger.     Namen;     Idjn 

1  '*'  is  the  sign  of  nasal  quality. 
16 


VOWELS  RIMING  WITH  VOWELS 

(MHG.  lam),  Eng.  lame;  kmn  for  Kamm,  Eng. 
comb.     (Km.  p.  43.) 

This  fact  will  account  for  many  of  Schiller's 
short  a:  long  a  rimes,  since  nahm  —  an,  I,  48,  be- 
comes —  an;  man — Kahn,  I,  206,  becomes  man  — ; 
Zahn  —  an,  I,  207,  208,  becomes  —  an.    In  Namen 

—  schwamen,  I,  2 18,  even  the  orthography  indicates 
that  Schiller  pronounced  schwammen  with  long  root 
vowel.  This  case  is  analogous  to  kam  for  Kamm, 
quoted  above.     In  the  following  instances,  Schaam 

—  schwamm,  I,  249,  the  poet  undoubtedly  pro- 
nounced the  root  vowel  of  schwamm  long,  though 
he  conformed  to  the  High  German  spelling.  Zu- 
sammen  —  Namen,  I,  226,  a  in  zusammen,  being 
the  stress  vowel,  was  surely  drawn  out.  Mann  — 
gethan,  I,  261,  354,  is  really  equivalent  to  Man,  an. 
In  the  rime  Fahrt  —  erstarrt,  I,  266,  the  probabili- 
ties are  that  both  of  these  words  were  spoken  short, 
since  the  a  in  erstarrt  is  short  by  position,  and  the 
a  in  Fahrt,  though  long  by  the  presence  of  the 
"dehnungs  A,"  is  short  in  MHG.  and  OHG.  vart, 
O.  S.  fard.  Talisman  —  Bahn,  I,  268.  So  far  as 
the  vowel  quantity  of  this  rime  is  concerned.  Talis- 
man becomes  Talisman  and  agrees  with  Bahn. 
Sklaven — Waffen,  I,  278,  281.  In  this  combina- 
tion we  are  led  to  believe  that  Schiller  merely  em- 
ployed the  modern  spelling  of  Waffen,  but  pro- 
nounced the  a  long,  as  it  is  found  in  the  earlier 
dialects;  MHG.  wafen,  OHG.  waffen  or  wafen, 
Goth,  wepna.  Bahn — an,  I,  346;  IV,  3,  becomes 
Bahn  —  an. 

During  the  second  period  we  again  meet  with  a 
number  of  cases  where  short  a  becomes  long  a  na- 
salized:   Talisman — gethan,    IV,    51;    Menschen- 
17 


THE  RIME  IN  SCHILLER'S  POEMS 

wahn  —  an,  IV,  26;  Dornenbahn  —  an,  IV,  28; 
Sternenbahn  —  voran,  IV,  51 ;  namen  —  zusammen, 
IV,  181;  an  —  aufgethan,  VI,  22,  32,  357;  an  — 
Bahn,  VI,  25,  376,  392;  XI,  5;  kam  —  schwamm, 
VI,  268;  an — Lebensbahn,  VI,  273;  Bahn — heran, 
VI,  370;  Bahn  —  hinan,  XI,  6;  Mann  —  gethan, 
XI,  12,  17;  nahm  —  an,  XI,  16;  Grab  —  ab, 
XI,  18.  Since  ab  is  short,  and  Grab  may  be  either 
short  or  long  (Muret-Sanders),  it  is  difficult  to 
determine  how  Schiller  pronounced  this  rime.  The 
MHG.  grap  and  OHG.  grab  uphold  the  short  a, 
making  a  perfect  rime  in  that  case  without  any 
lengthening.  The  alternative  is  to  accept  Grab 
with  long  a  as  the  Swabian  form,  and  then  to 
lengthen  ab  according  to  the  general  principle. 
Bahn  —  Ocean,  XI,  25. 

In  the  third  period  such  rimes  occur  as  follows: 
Heran  —  Wahn,  XI,  225;  an  —  Zahn,  XI,  248, 
277;  wach  —  sprach,  XI,  262;  wach  was  undoubt- 
edly lengthened,  as  customary,  to  agree  with  sprach, 
though  the  vowel  is  not  nasal.  Wahn  —  an,  XI, 
264,  289;  Plan  —  an,  XI,  279,  297,  356;  Kahn  — 
heran,  Sinnenwahn  —  an,  XI,  324;  an  —  Bahn, 
XI,  342,  398;  Schlafe  —  WafiFe,  XI,  353.  As  we 
have  seen  above,  the  a  in  Wafife  was  long  in  earlier 
dialects,  and  needs  no  further  discussion  here.  Kann 
—  bahn,  XI,  370;  gethan  —  an,  XI,  383,  386. 

The  short  a:  long  a  rime  occurs  sixteen  times  in 
the  first  period,  twenty-one  times  in  the  second, 
and  seventeen  times  in  the  third. 

12  of  the   16  cases  in  the  first  period, 
20  of  the  21   cases  in  the  second  period,  and 
15  of  the   17  cases  in  the   third    period    are    of 
the    short-a-becoming-long-a-nasalized    type.      The 
18 


VOWELS  RIMING  WITH  VOWELS 

fact  that  this  type  is  found  47  times,  while  all  other 
forms  combined  occur  only  7  times,  is  strong  evi- 
dence that  the  lengthening  of  a  before  nasals  is 
more  pronounced  than  in  other  combinations. 

2.    Short  e  in  rime  with  long  e. 

Gebete  —  Wette,  I,  193;  Toilette  —  Gebete,  I, 
234 ;  Welt  —  gefehlt,  IV,  22 ;  Haymarket  —  Poet, 
XI,  19;  Bret  (Brett) —vergeht,  XI,  362. 

The  instances  where  short  e  rimes  with  long  e 
are  very  rare  and  in  themselves  quite  odd.  It  seems 
hardly  advisable  to  try  to  explain  them  by  the 
lengthening  of  short  e  in  the  Swabian,  for  it  is  very 
difficult  to  formulate  any  rule  concerning  the  de- 
velopment of  MHG.  e.  "In  den  Entsprechungen 
fiir  mhd.  e  ( — idg.  e)  herrscht  in  den  Mundarten 
durchaus  keine  Einheitlichkeit."     (Km.  p.  58.) 

The  use  of  the  English  word  Haymarket  arrests 
our  attention,  I  therefore  quote  the  connection  in 
which  it  occurs,  in  the  poem:  Pegasus  in  der  Dienst- 
barkeit. 

Auf  einem  Pferdemarkt  —  vielleicht  zu  Haymarket, 
Wo  andre  Dinge  noch  in  Waare  sich  verwandeln, 
Bracht'  einst  ein  hungriger  Poet 
Der  Musen  Rosz,  es  zu  verhandeln. 

Viehoff^  makes  the  following  comment  on  these 
lines:  "Haymarket,  ein  Flecken  in  England,  ist  gut 
gewahlt,  da  dort  noch  'andre  Dinge'  edler  Art, 
namlich  Weiber,  sich  in  Waare  verwandeln.  Nach 
einem  uralten  Recht  darf  dort  jeder  sein  Weib, 
wenn   es   die   eheliche   Treue   verletzte,    an   einem 

^  Schillers    Gedichte   erklart   unci    erldutert,   Heinrich   Viehoff,    7. 
Auflage,  Stuttgart,  1895,  Band  II,  Seite  19. 

19 


THE  RIME  IN  SCHILLER'S  POEMS 

Strick  zum  Markt  fiihren  and  zum  Verkauf  aus- 
setzen."  The  word  Haymarket  is  borrowed  from 
the  English,  and  it  is  quite  evident  that  Schiller 
had  no  adequate  pronunciation  of  the  word.  For, 
if  he  had,  it  would  have  seemed  quite  impossible 
for  him  to  attempt  a  rime  between  Haymarket  and 
Poet.  He  doubtless  pronounced  the  word  accord- 
ing to  the  French,  which  places  the  accent  on  the 
final  syllable,  thereby  making  the  rime  between 
Haymarket  and  Poet  perfect  in  accent,  though  not 
in  vowel  quantity. 

3.    Short  i  in  rime  with  long  i  (ie). 

During  the  first  period :  Gewinnst  —  Dienst,  I, 
193;  hin  —  einzuziehn,  I,  207;  Lichteskonigin  — 
ziehn,  I,  219;  entziffert  —  geliefert,  I,  270;  risz  — 
stiesz  —  hiesz,  I,  3CX);  mit  —  versieht,  I,  308;  lief 
—  begriff,  I,  340;  entgegenfliehn  —  hin,  III,  167; 
geniessen  —  missen.     III,     168;     Sanherib  —  trieb, 

III,  173;    lieszt  —  ist,     III,     174;    bist  —  siehst, 

IV,  II. 

Second  period :  ihn  —  dahin,  IV,  26 ;  VI,  273  ; 
Berlin  —  Schlaferin,  VI,  29;  nachzukriechen  — 
entwichen,  VI,  32 ;  entrissen  —  einzuschlieszen, 
VI,  389;  verhiesz  —  entrisz,  VI,  396. 

Third  period  :  rief  —  Felsenriff,  XI,  224;  hin  — 
ihn,  XI,  233,  346;  ist  —  sprieszt,  XI,  235;  hin  — 
fliehn,  XI,  351;  Gewinst — Dienst,  XI,  385. 

As  we  have  seen,^  it  is  a  Swabian  tendency  to 
lengthen  short  vowels  under  stress.  This  fact  ap- 
pears also  from  Schiller's  own  orthography  in  the 
following  words,  which  are  always  pronounced 
short  and  spelled  accordingly,  while  with  his  spell- 

1  See  page   15  ff. 

20 


VOWELS  RIMING  WITH  VOWELS 

ing  they  could  have  been  long  only.  They  are: 
gieng  —  hieng,  I,  309;  Umfieng  —  hieng,  I,  310. 
Now,  this  added  evidence  for  general  lengthening 
would  not  be  so  convincing  if  he  had  employed  the 
spelling  for  the  sake  of  the  rime.  Since,  however, 
both  words  in  the  rime  are  short  in  High  German, 
he  could  have  had  no  other  reason  for  this  spell- 
ing than  his  natural  pronunciation.  For  this  rea- 
son, then,  he  rimes  words  like:    risz  —  stiesz,  hin 

—  fiiehn,  etc. 

The  short  i  long  i  rime  occurs  twelve  times  in 
the  first  period,  and  six  times  in  each  of  the  other 
two,  showing  a  steady  decrease  throughout,  when 
we  bear  in  mind  the  fact  that  fewer  rimes  were 
written  during  the  second  period  than  either  of 
the   other   two. 

4.    Short  o  in  rime  with  long  o. 

First  period:  Zofen  —  hoften,  I,  193;  Gott  — 
droht,  I,  244;  Morgenroth  —  Gott,  I,  218;  Gott 

—  Fliigelbot,   I,  256;  grosz —  Rosz,   I,  351. 
Second    period :     flosz  —  los,    IV,    25  ;    Rosz  — 

riesengrosz,  VI,  353,  355;  Geschosz  —  bewegungs- 
los,  VI,  356;  genossen  —  stoszen,  VI,  359;  Sohn 

—  davon,  VI,  389;  Gott  —  Gebot,  XI,  4. 
Third    period:    hoch  —  doch,    XI,    213;  los  — 

Geschosz,  XI,  277;  Rosz  —  blosz,  XI,  280;  Gott 

—  Machtgebot,  XI,  297,  299;  Sohn  —  davon,  XI, 
326;  Hellespont  —  wohnt,  XI,  338;  los  —  gosz, 
XI,  361;  flosz  —  Schoosz,  XI,  381;  Gebot  — 
Sonnengott,  XI,  388. 

If  we  bear  in  mind  that  the  vowel  0,  under 
stress,  is  the  one  lengthened,  then  all  but  two  of 
the  above  rimes  are  accounted  for ;  these  are  Helles- 


THE  RIME  IN  SCHILLER'S  POEMS 

pont  —  wohnt  and  Gebot  —  Sonnengott.  The  ir- 
regularity here  consists  in  the  fact  that  the  syllables 
-pont  and  -gott,  which  should  be  lengthened,  are 
not  under  primary  stress. 

The  fact  that  Schiller  uses  the  short  o  long  o 
rime  with  increasing  frequency,  and  twice  as  often 
in  the  third  period  as  in  the  first,  though  only  22 
times  in  all,  indicates  that  he  did  not  especially  try 
to  avoid  it,  although  it  never  became  frequent  with 
him. 

5.    Short  u  in  rime  v^^ith  long  u. 

First  period:  Rekrouten  —  Kutten,  I,  894; 
wohlgemut  —  Schutt,  I,  269.  There  is  only  one 
case  of  short  ii  in  rime  with  long  ii,  Kiissen  — 
biiszen,   I,  246. 

Second  period :  Flusz  —  Fusz,  VI,  9 ;  Ueber- 
flusze  —  Grusze,  VI,  2 ;  Verflossen  —  Groszen, 
VI,  266;  Flucht  —  sucht    (suchen),  VI,  404. 

Third  period:  Bibelbuch  —  Spruch,  XI,  218; 
sucht  (suchen)  — Frucht,  XI,  242;  Fusz  —  musz, 
XI,  245 ;  herum  —  Heiligtum,  XI,  283 ;  Heilig- 
tum  —  um,  XI,  279;  Fusz  —  Flusz,  XI,  381. 

In  the  above  rimes  the  principle  of  lengthening 
a  short  vowel  under  stress  has  played  an  impor- 
tant part,  for  several  of  the  forms  can  be  explained 
in  that  way  only.  Kutten,  kiissen,  Spruch,  um, 
herum,  Frucht  are  short  and  must  have  been  length- 
ened according  to  the  Swabian  custom.  In  fact 
Kauffman  (p.  74)  gives  Frucht  (Lat.  fructus)  as 
one  of  the  examples  upholding  the  theory  of  vowel 
lengthening. 

As  is  apparent  from  the  above  list,  the  short  u 
long  u  type  is  not  very  largely  represented  in  Schil- 
ler's poems. 

22 


VOWELS  RIMING  WITH  VOWELS 

6.    e  in  rime  with  i. 

First  period:  mir  —  daher,  I,  218;  Gesinnungen 
—  Ihn,  I,  292.  This  is  one  of  the  instances  where 
an  inflected  polysyllabic  is  rimed  with  a  monosyl- 
labic. The  polysyllabic  naturally  does  not  lay  pri- 
mary stress  on  the  inflectional  ending,  but  on  the 
stem.  Thus  it  becomes  necessary  to  rime  the  in- 
flected syllable  under  secondary  stress  with  the 
monosyllabic  under  primary  stress.  This  type  of 
rimes  dates  back  as  far  as  Otfried,  where  we  find 
syllables  under  secondary  stress  rimed  with  those 
under  either  primary  or  secondary  stress.  Many^ 
poets  since  then,  including  Schiller,  have  employed 
the  same   rime-scheme. 

Finden  —  wenden,  I,  305  ;  sehn  —  dahin,  I,  311; 
Verschwender — minder,  sinken — erhenken,  I,  247  ; 
hin  —  sehn,  I,  256;  hin  —  Seufzergen,  I,  293; 
verschwinden  —  enden,  I,  266 ;  Siinderin  —  gesehn, 
I,  298;  finden  —  einzusenden,  I,  400;  Dingel  — 
Bengel,  I,  352;  Aszyrien  —  Konigin,  III,  174; 
Winke — Geschenke,  III,  176;  schwinden — enden, 
IV,  13. 

Second  period:    Verdienst  —  kennst,  IV,   181. 

Third  period :    Gottin  —  Geliebten,  XI,  342. 

^  So  wird  man  namentlich  bei  J.  A.  Cramer,  Gleim,  Gotz  und 
Herder  in  vielen  Gedichten  neben  Reimen  wie  sterbliche :  eh; 
Hcrr:  ziirtlicher;  allgewaltiger :  hieher ;  denn :  zufriedenen  wohl 
noch  ofter  Gebande  finden  wie  kletterte :  Hiichtige ;  fer tiger :  dhn- 
licher;  traurigen  :  frohlichen ;  Diogenes :  weniges ;  Grazien :  Got- 
terchen.  Auch  Uz  ("An  Chloen"  im  i.  B.  der  Oden),  Klopstock 
(in  den  geistlichen  Liedern,  7,  86),  Chr.  F.  Weisse  (kl.  lyr.  Ge- 
dichte  3,  27;  61),  J.  G.  Jacobi  (sammtliche  Werke  i,  25;  28;  33; 
63;  2,  57).  Wieland  (21,  239),  Voss  (Ausg.  von  1835;  S.  154; 
210;  257;  287),  Bockingk  (Gedichte  2,  167;  3,  90;  97),  Gotter 
(Gedichte  i,  16;  18;  99;  103),  Schiller  in  seinen  jiingeren  Jahren 
(i.  3;  31  f;  3.  399;  402;  408)  u.  Andere  haben  sich  mehr  oder 
weniger  oft  Reime  der  einen  oder  der  anderen  Art  erlaubt. 
(August  Koberstein  —  Grundriss  der  Geschichte  der  Deutschen 
Nationalliteratur.  Fiinfte  Auflage  von  Bartsch,  B.  Ill,  Leipzig 
1872,    S.   249.) 

23 


THE  RIME  IN  SCHILLER'S  POEMS 

At  this  point  an  important  Swabian  peculiarity 
must  be  mentioned.  It  is  the  fact  that  i,  e,  and  o 
before  nasals  rime  with  each  other;  not  only  that, 
but  what  applies  here  especially,  that  i  before  nasals 
becomes  e^  nasalized.  For  this  reason  Schiller 
called  his  sister  Christophine  —  Fenej^  and  his 
mother  writes  as  she  speaks:  ich  ben^  for  ich  bin. 

In  explanation  of  the  rime  mir  —  daher,  we 
must  notice  that  Swabian  i  before  r  in  "Pausa- 
sellung"  becomes  ia,  as  in  mir,  wir,  dir,  which  are 
really  equivalent  to  miar,  wiar,  diar,  (Km.  p.  65). 
By  this  process  we  see  that  the  Swabian  pronunci- 
ation of  mir  and  daher  closely  approach  each  other. 

All  other  rimes  in  this  group  are  of  the  en-in 
type,  which  have  been  explained  with  regard  to 
vowel  quality.  The  tendency  with  regard  to  vowel 
quantity  has  been  sufficiently  established. 

It  is  quite  striking  that  Schiller  uses  this  rime 
fifteen  times  in  the  first  period,  but  only  once  in 
the  second  and  once  in  the  third.  This  seems  to 
indicate  that  he  early  became  aware  of  its  imper- 
fection, and  abandoned  it;  because  it  must  have 
been  especially  objectionable  to  the  North  German, 
who  makes  a  clear  distinction  between  in  and  en. 

7.    o  in  rime  with  u. 

nun — Lohn,  I,  130;  Monde — Elisiumssekunde, 
I,  225;  dumm — Diplom,  I,  243;  Monde — Bunde, 
I,  181;  Monde  —  Honigmunde,  I,  188;  nun  — 
Orgelton,  I,  217  ;  Strom  —  Elisium,  I,  255  ;  nun  — 
Eisenthron,  I,  257;  Blume  —  Glanzfantome,  I, 
259;  brummen  —  durchkommen,  I,  270;  umsonst 
—  Brunst,    I,    278 ;    Mond  —  Erdenrund,    Will- 

^  Kauffmann  p.  63.       '  Minor  p.  398.  ^  Goedeke  I,  383. 

24 


VOWELS  RIMING  WITH  VOWELS 

komm — herum,  I,  353  ;  bekommt — unangebrummt, 
III,   172. 

The  0:  u  rime  seems  to  be  about  as  common 
and  as  generally  used  by  Swabian  poets  as  the 
i:e:o^  rimes.  Its  use  is  justified  by  the  following 
facts:  Before  nasals  the  Swabian  u  drops  to  0^  and 
becomes  nasal.  There  are  many  proofs  of  this 
difference  between  the  Swabian  and  the  High  Ger- 
man. For  example :  gefonden,  bronnen,  gonst, 
komer,  kontschaft,  kromm^  etc.  These  and  other 
forms  occur  frequently,  and  are  traced  back  to  early 
writings.  All  of  the  fourteen  occurrences  are 
found  in  Schiller's  "Jugendversuche"  and  are  of 
the  o'.u^rnasal  becomes  0:0  nasal  type.  But  gen- 
eral as  this  type  was,  and  had  been,  Schiller  must 
have  recognized  it  as  purely  Swabian,  for  he  aban- 
doned it  entirely  after  the  first  period. 

^  Minor  p.  398.  -  KauflFman  p.  74. 

^  Zimmerische  Chronik   (Km.   p.   75). 


25 


II 

PURE   VOWELS   RIMING    WITH 
UMLAUTS 

Hildebrand^  (p.  353)  gives  an  account  of  the 
pronunciation  of  umlauts  in  Saxony,  which  is  of 
particular  importance  at  this  point  of  our  investi- 
gation, since  the  chief  northern  influence  on  Schiller 
came  from  Saxony.  He  says:  "Die  Sprache  der 
Gebildeten  hatte  kein  wirkliches  b,  ii,  eu,  sondern 
e,  h  eij  oder  ai  dafiir.  Die  deutsche  Treue  ward 
mit  swei  ei  gesprochen,  ebenso  der  Freibeuter,  di^ 
hochste  Schonheit  mit  zwei  e,  Gottes  Giite  mit  0 
und  i,  u.  s.  w.  Und  nicht  nur  die  kleinen  Burger 
etwa  sprachen  so,  sondern  ebensogut  die  gebildeten 
Kaufleute,  Buchhandler  u.  s.  w.,  ja  der  Prediger 
auf  der  Kanzel,  die  Professoren  auf  dem  Katheder, 
die  Lehrer  in  der  Schule." 

Hildebrand  personally  remembers  a  lecture  on 
Goethe's  Gotz,  in  w^hich  the  speaker  was  well  aware 
of  the  quick  succession  of  the  two  6's,  but  was 
unable  to  pronounce  them,  for  he  said:  Gethe's 
Getz. 

Although  Opitz  in  his  "Poeterei"  gives  some 
definite  rules  regarding  pure  rime,  even  he  sur- 
prises us  with  the  following  combinations :  horen  — 
verkehren,  fiir  —  dir,  Poeten  —  von  nothen,  Freude 
—  Leide,  and  many  similar  words,  showing  that 
to  him  they  were  phonetically  pure. 

^  Beitiage  zum  deut.  Unterricht,   Leipzig,    1897. 
26 


VOWELS  RIMING  WITH  UMLAUTS 

Now  the  question  arises,  were  Schiller  and 
Goethe  exceptions  to  this  generally  prevalent  pro- 
nunciation? They  were  not.  How  could  they 
have  been  ?  This  is  sufficiently  apparent  from  their 
rimes :  o  —  e,  6  —  ii,  eu  —  ei,  ii  —  ij  and  many 
others.  The  people  of  Weimar,  speaking  of  their 
great  poet,   called  him   Gehde. 

Now,  in  continuing  the  study  of  the  various 
combinations,   we  have: 

I.    a  in  rime  with  e. 

There  really  seems  to  be  no  need  for  calling  at- 
tention to  this  rime.  Modern  German,  as  ordi- 
narily spoken,  would  make  no  distinction  in  the 
pronunciation  of  the  riming  words  in  this  chapter, 
although,  if  each  vowel  were  taken  by  itself  alone, 
a  distinction  would  easily  be  made  between  the  « 
and  e. 

Even  in  the  fifteenth  century  we  meet  with  rimes 
like  her  —  war,  beger  —  war,  lar  —  her,  indicat- 
ing that  a  and  e  must  have  been  pronounced  alike, 
or  at  least  as  closely  approaching  each  other. 

a)     short  ii:  short  e   rimes: 

Denken  —  ertranken,  I,  128;  Bette  —  Stadte, 
I,  299;  himmelwarts — Herz,  I,  46,  128;  laszt  — 
fest,  I,  178;  Wetter  —  Vatter,  I,  179;  attention 
must  be  called  to  the  form  Fatter.  From  Goedeke's 
text  we  should  conclude  at  once  that  it  is  a  cor- 
ruption for  Fetter,  creating  an  imperfection  where 
none  was  necessary.  This  opinion  must,  however, 
be  modified  when  we  see   that  three   texts^   agree 

*  Hoffmann's    Nachlese,    Boas's    Nachtrdge,    Boas's    Schillers    Ju- 
gendjahre. 

27 


THE  RIME  IN  SCHILLER'S  POEMS 

on  the  form  Fater.  If  Schiller  meant  Vater,  as 
it  seems  he  did,  he  was  for  some  reason  misled 
to  the  use  of  tt,  possibly  to  make  the  agreement 
with  Wetter  more  apparent.  In  that  case  it  is  a 
rime  of  short  e  with  long  a.  schwarmt  —  lermt, 
I,  1 86.  The  spelling  lermt^  is  incorrect  according 
to  our  commonly  accepted  orthography.  The  Swa- 
bian  spelling  according  to  sound  would  easily  inter- 
change a  and  e,  since  these  vowels  are  constantly 
rimed  in  this  chapter.  Blumenschwelle  —  Balle, 
I,  187;  Kranze  —  Lenze,  I,  237;  Trank  —  denk, 
I,  245.  To  show  the  setting  of  these  words  will 
be  sufficient  justification  for  the  rime: 

Gallopiren  auf   dem   Springer, 

Reiten  ihn  zur  Trank, 
Nennen  sich  gar  hohe  Sanger 
-     Barden  ein'ge,  denk! 

(Die  Rache   der   Musen.) 

schatze  —  setze,  I,  290 ;  Veste  —  Pallaste,  I,  295  ; 
Welt  —  fallt ;  blattert  —  geklettert,  I,  359 ;  sterben 
—  entfarben,  XI,  202 ;  lebt  —  grabt,  XI,  212,  213  ; 
erdenken — Schranken,  XI,  214;  rachen — sprechen, 
XI,  230. 

b)    Lonff  a:   long  e  rimes: 

Meere  —  Sphare,  I,  30;  geht  —  ersaht,  I,  47; 
Schlagen  —  entgegen,  I,  48;  Ehre  —  ware,  I,  51; 
verweht  —  ausgesat,  I,  179;  spahn  —  drehn,  I, 
181;  stehn  —  mahn,  i,  208;  schamen  —  nehmen, 
I,  213;  Seele  —  quale,  I,  277;  gepragt  —  gelegt, 
I,  252 ;  spahn  —  gehn,  I,  285  ;  sehnen  —  Thranen, 
I,  288;  Zare  —  Cythere,  XI,  4;  Speere  —  Mahre, 
XI,  232. 

1  Though  it  was  used  by  Luther  and  his  contemporaries. 
28 


VOWELS  RIMING  WITH  UxMLAUTS 


c)     Long  a:  short  e  rimes: 

Vater  —  Klaggezeter,  I,  130.  Koerner,  in  his 
1818  edition,  improves  this  rime  by  spelling  Klag- 
gezetter  with  one  t,  thereby  presumably  lengthen- 
ing the  preceding  e  and  forming  a  perfect  rime  of 
the  d:e  class.  Heyne  (Worterbuch)  perfectly  jus- 
tified Koerner's  supposed  intention  by  giving  the 
MHG.  zeter,  zether,  and  adds  the  remark  that 
zetter  is  of  dark  origin.  Schiller  must  have  pro- 
nounced the  e  long,  though  it  is  really  short  by 
position.  The  Schriftsprache  recognizes  only  the 
long  form,  with  one  t.  Herren  —  wahren,  I,  276  ; 
Gefasze  —  Messe,  XI,  253;  Esse  —  Gefasze,  XI, 
296. 

It  appears  that  Schiller  uses  this  long  a:  short  e 
combination  only  four  times.  In  each  of  these  cases 
the  vowel  e  is  short  by  position  (followed  by  ss, 
tt,  rr).  By  the  customary  lengthening  of  the  short 
vowel  this  combination  easily  passes  with  the  pre- 
ceding ones  of  equal  vowel  length.  But  the  fact 
that  it  occurs  only  four  times,  and  was  rejected 
after  1799,  shows  that  Schiller  considered  it  im- 
perfect; but  failing  to  find  better  terms,  he  was 
not  willing  to  sacrifice  the  sense  for  the  rime. 

2.    a  in  rime  with  i. 

a)     Short  a:   short   i  runes: 

Gesangen  —  schwingen,  I,  27  ;  geringe  —  Ge- 
sange,  I,  27  ;  beschimmert  —  niederdammert,  I,  28  ; 
blinzen  —  scharwanzen,  I,  188.  In  the  lexicons 
scharwdnzen  is  spelled  with  e  instead  of  a,  the  a 
form  is  perhaps  one  of  Schiller's  phonetic  spellings, 
springt  —  hangt,    I,    235;    Springer  —  Sanger,    I, 

29 


THE  RIME  IN  SCHILLER'S  POEMS 

345  ;  Banken  —  hinken,  I,  254 ;  Drangen  —  ein- 
zuschlingen,  I,  281;  wimmert  —  aufgedammert, 
I,  295;  winkt  —  krankt,  I,  309;  Sanger  —  Saiten- 
schvvinger,  I,  351;  springen  —  Gesangen,  I,  355; 
klingt  —  hangt,  III,  167;  Finger  —  Sanger,  IV, 
17;   hangt  —  singt,   IV,    181. 

b)    Long  a:  long  i  rime: 

Trane  —  Miene,  I,   186. 

As  we  have  seen  (p.  24)  it  is  a  Swabian  tend- 
ency for  i  before  nasals  to  become  e  nasalized. 
Since  in  every  a:  i  rime  the  i  is  followed  by  ?n 
or  n,  it  is  safe  to  infer  that  it  approaches  the  pho- 
netic value  of  e.  If  that  is  true,  then  it  reduces 
the  a:  i  to  an  ii:  e  rime,  which  has  been  discussed 
above  (p.  27)  and  dismissed  as  phonetically  ap- 
proximately pure. 

Of  this  combination  we  find  sixteen  occurrences, 
all  but  one  in  the  "Jugendwerke,"  showing  that 
Schiller  must  have  found  it  awkward  and  ofifensive 
from  the  standpoint  of  the   Schriftsprache. 

3.    o  in  rime  with  e. 

Here  we  have  a  number  of  combinations  differ- 
ing with  regard  to  vowel  quantity,  which  may  be 
grouped  in  the  following  manner: 

a)     Short   0:  short  e  rimes: 

In  the  first  period:  Gotter  —  Erretter,  I,  127; 
Holle  —  Stelle,  I,  227  ;  HoUe  —  Freudenquelle,  I, 
228 ;  Silberhorner  —  gerner,  I,  244 ;  Quelle  — 
Holle,  Gottern  —  klettern,  I,  228 ;  schmettern  — 
vergottern,  I,  342;  Schlosser  —  Presser,  I,  344; 
geklettert  —  vergottert,    I,    359 ;    selber  —  Gewol- 

30 


VOWELS  RIMING  WITH  UMLAUTS 

ber,  I,  243.  Gewolber  commonly  appears  as  a  sec- 
ond declension  noun.  Whether  Schiller  had  any 
other  reason  for  using  this  form  than  a  desire  to 
rime  it  with  selber,  is  not  apparent.  Vetter  —  Cot- 
ter, III,  171;  wekt  —  schrokt.  III,  175.  Why 
Schiller  should  employ  this  impossible  spelling  for 
schrecken  is  not  imaginable,  unless  it  was  caused 
by  attraction  to  some  other  similar  form  which  is 
not  used  here.  Though  the  rime  may  have  seemed 
good  to  him,  it  might  have  been  made  perfect  by 
merely   following  the   regular   orthography. 

The  second  period  Gotter  —  Retter,  IV,  28 ; 
XI,  8;  gegonnt  —  brennt,  IV,  29;  Tochter  —  Ge- 
schlechter,  VI,  371;  Wetter  —  Gotter,  VI,  372; 
erhort  —  werth,  VI,  379 ;  Holle  —  Stelle,  VI,  407  ; 
Holle  —  Schwelle,   VI,   408  ;  helfe  —  zwolfe,   XI, 

65. 

Third  period :  Welle  —  Holle,  XI,  201 ;  ge- 
trennt  —  vergonnt,  XI,  202 ;  Kapelle  —  Holle,  XI, 
218;  Gotter  —  Retter,  XI,  241,  275;  Tochter  — 
Geschlechter,  XI,  396,  400. 

b)    Long  6:  long  e  rimes: 

schon  —  gehn,  I,  271;  Scene  —  Sohne,  I,  51; 
Reh  — Hoh,  I,  197;  Seele  — Hohle,  I,  182;  Hohe 
—  Fee,  I,  189;  sehr  —  Verhor,  I,  193;  Floten  — 
Balsambeeten,  I,  277  ;  Systemen  —  stromen,  I,  285  ; 
hoher  —  Seher,  I,  287;  Konig  —  wenig,  I,  207; 
hohnt  —  sehnt,  I,  289;  Hohen  —  stehen,  I,  219; 
Zerstorer  —  leerer,  I,  291;  reden  —  von  nothen,  I, 
226;  Werth  —  angehort,  I,  255;  Donnerhohe  — 
sehe,  I,  292 ;  Planeten  —  Morgenrothen,  I,  280, 
359;  Wangenrothe  —  Tapete,  I,  295;  Schone  — 
Blumenscene,    I,    308 ;    Sehne  —  Angstgestohne,    I, 

31 


THE  RIME  IN  SCHILLER'S  POEMS 

299;  Gelehrten  —  schworten,  III,  173.  Schworen 
here  occurs  as  a  weak  verb,  which  is  rarely  used. 
Second  period:  wiederkehren  —  storen,,  IV,  46; 
hoher  —  Seher,  IV,  50 ;  Sarazenen  —  Weibersoh- 
nen,  VI,  5  ;  Hohen  —  erstehen,  Schone  —  Athene, 
VI,  272 ;  gewehrt  —  aufgestort,  VI,  349 ;  gehoren 

—  entehren,  VI,  350,  353  ;  losen  —  gewesen,  VI, 
353  ;  Hohen  —  geschehen,  VI,  360  ;  beiszustehn  — 
erhohn,  VI,  368 ;  erhoren  —  mehren,  VI,  377 ; 
wehn  —  Hohn,  VI,  381 ;  sehen  —  Hohen,  VI,  382  ; 
Hohn  —  stehn,  VI,  387  ;  sehen  —  Hohen,  VI,  398 ; 
XI,  31 ;  Hohn  —  See'n,  VI,  397  ;  Hohen  —  Flehen, 
VI,  415;  Hohn  —  untergehn,  XI,  7;  Wesen  — 
Losen,  XI,   15;  Hohen  —  Lehen,  XI,  63. 

Third  period:  Hohen  —  ungeschehen,  XI,  210; 
Hoh  — See,  XI,  220,  343,  345,  351;  zuruckge- 
kehrt  —  gehort,  XI,  222 ;  Wasserhohle  —  Seele, 
XI,  223  ;  Rede  —  Oede,  XI,   225  ;  herzbethorend 

—  verzehrend,  XI,  244;  Hohen  —  wehen,  XI, 
293,  312;  Hohn  —  geschehn,  Flehen  —  Hohen, 
XI,  295;  Hohn  —  stehn,  XI,  307,  402;  Scene  — 
Tone,  XI,  324;  ergehen  —  Hohen,  XI,  354,  402; 
erhoren  —  Meeren,  XI,  343  ;  Hohlen  —  beseelen, 
XI,  356 ;  erhoret  —  geehret,  XI,  385  ;  untergehen 

—  Himmelshohen,  XI,  392. 

c)  Long  6:  short  e  rimes: 

niederstromt  —  iiberschwemmt,  I,  47  ;  Welt  — 
ausgehohlt,  I,  269 ;  stoszt  —  fest,  I,  342 ;  besten  — 
trosten,  XI,  320. 

d)  Short  6:  long  e  rimes: 
edelster  —  gottlichster,  VI,  27. 

Minor  (p.  398)   calls  attention  to  the  fact  that 
Swabian  poets  commonly  used   the   rime   0;  e,   as, 
32 


VOWELS  RIMING  WITH  UMLAUTS 

Hohn  —  geschehn,  HoUe  —  Stelle,  etc.,  and  Schil- 
ler was  no  exception,  though  his  contemporary,  of 
whom  Goethe  says:  "nur  ein  Wieland  sollte 
reimen,"  avoided  it. 

The  short  rime  occurs  ten  times  in  the  "Jugend- 
werke"  and  nine  times  after  the  year  1782.  The 
long  rime  is  somewhat  more  common.  It  is  found 
twenty  times  in  the  "Jugendwerke,"  and  later 
twenty-six  times.  From  this  it  would  appear  that 
Schiller  saw  no  reason,  even  after  he  had  come 
under  the  influence  of  the  Middle  German  and  had 
made  considerable  advancement  in  matters  of  form, 
why  he  should  not  use  this  rime.  The  early  im- 
pressions which  he  received  proved  a  lasting  in- 
fluence. But  it  must  be  remembered  that  in  the 
Saxon  and  Thiiringian  dialects  0  is  commonly  pro- 
nounced as  an  unrounded  vowel.  And  that,  there- 
fore, the  influence  of  these  dialects  upon  Schiller 
was  in  this  instance  not  a  corrective. 

However  pardonable  his  use  of  this  rime  may  be, 
the  long  6  :  short  e  rime  is  bad,  as  all  other  rimes 
between  long  and  short  vowels  are.  Schiller  must 
have  realized  this,  for  he  uses  it  only  four  times  in 
his  "Jugendwerke,"  and  once  afterwards.  We 
must,  of  course,  take  for  granted  that  the  general 
lengthening^  was  applied  to  all  these  short  vowels, 
but  even  then  the  0  ;  e  rime  remains  ofiEensive  to 
the  ear  of  the  cultured  North  German,  and  doubly 
so  if  the  vowel  quantities  do  not  coincide. 

1  See  page   15  ff. 


33 


THE  RIME  IN  SCHILLER'S  POEMS 

4.  o  in  rime  with  i. 

a)  Long  6   :  short  i  rime: 

stromen  —  schwimmen,  I,  29.    This  rime  in  long 

0  short  i  occurs  just  once,  in  the  poem  "Der  Abend," 
which  is  among  Schiller's  earliest  attempts  in  1776. 

b)  Long  6    :  long  i  rimes: 

This  rime  occurs  four  times,  but  also  in  the 
"Jugendwerke."  Minen —  Schonen,  I,  249 ;  Ju- 
gendschone  —  Miene,  I,  266;  Schone  —  Trauer- 
miene,  I,  298 ;  Seraphinen  —  Harfentonen,  I,  359. 

In  this  exceptionally  small  group  of  0  ;  /  rimes, 
there  does  not  seem  to  be  a  predominating  attrac- 
tion of  either  vowel  to  the  other.  Both  seem  to 
lose  their  own  value,  to  meet  on  neutral  grounds 
at  e  about  midway  between  0  and  i;  for  i  before 
nasals  becomes  e  nasalized.^  Then  the  0  easily 
gives  way  to  e/  as  in  Konig  —  wenig,  Hohn  — 
sehn,  Scene  —  Tone,  etc.,  thus  making  the  rime 
pure  in  the  dialect. 

What  has  been  said  about  the  lengthening  of 
short  vowels   (p.  15  ff)   applies  also  here. 

Schiller  abandoned  the  use  of  the  0  ;  i  rime  very 
early.  It  occurs  only  during  the  first  period,  five 
times  in  all.     It  seems  awkward  and  inadequate. 

5.  u  in  rime  with  e. 

Menschen  —  Wijnschen,  I,  107 ;  IV,  20,  is  the 
only  occurrence  of  the  short  quantity  of  these  two 
vowels  in  rime,  while  the  long  vowels  occur  four 
times:  riihmen  —  nehmen,  I,  213;  Scene  —  Biihne, 
I,  250,  298;  Diademen  —  riihmen,  8,  341. 

It  has  caused  much  adverse  comment  that  Schiller 

1  Page  24.  2  Page  32. 

34 


VOWELS  RIMING  WITH  UMLAUTS 

should  rime  Menschen  with  Wiinschen.  Especially 
Schlegel  finds  it  very  ridiculous.  The  Northern 
Germans  can  not  forgive  Schiller  for  using  such 
rimes.  Yet  they  are  justifiable  in  the  Swabian  dia- 
lect,  though  perhaps  used  somewhat   freely. 

Fischer^  gives  the  following  forms,  which  seem 
to  justify  Schiller  in  his  use: 

befiirchten,  schwabisch  beferchten ; 
ankiinden,  "  ankenden ; 

beriimen,  ii  like  e  in  legen. 

Then  Schiller's  Menschen  —  Wiinschen,  Scene  — 
Biihne,  riihmen  —  nehmen,  are  quite  permissible, 
though  of  course,  judged  from  the  present  standard 
of   German   pronunciation,   ofiEensive. 

6.    u  in  rime  with  i. 

Various  combinations,  as  regards  quantity,  occur 
under  this  heading,  which  may  be  grouped  in  the 
following  manner: 

a)     Short  u    :  short  i  rimes: 

First  period:  Himmel  —  Getiimmel,  I,  27,  50; 
Blik  —  zuriik,  I,  47,  49 ;  Entziiken  —  Bliken  — 
auszudriiken,  I,  48;  zugeschickt  —  eingedriickt,  I^ 
50 ;  Gliike  —  Blike,  I,  50 ;  Kriikke  —  Blike,  I,  106 ; 
Blik  —  zuriik,  I,  108;  entziiken  —  Bliken,  I,  128; 
Kinder  —  Verkiinder,  I,  185;  Winden  —  verkiin- 
den,  I,  186;  Gifften  —  Ambradiiften,  I,  187; 
Biichse  —  Crucifixe,  I,  I92;wiszt  —  kiiszt,  I,  192; 
schikt  —  driikt,  I,  194;  Schandenliste  —  Geriiste, 
I,  194 ;  gefiillet  —  umgetrillet,  beriilpet  —  umge- 
stilpet,  I,  212.     In  order  to  emphasize  a  peculiarity 

*  Schw'dhisches  Worterbuch,  Tubingen,  begun  1901. 

35 


THE  RIME  IN  SCHILLER'S  POEMS 

in  the  last  two  rimes,  which  occur  twice  on  the 
same  page,  I  quote  the  entire  lines: 

"Manchen  Kopf  mit  Dampf  gefiillet,^ 
Manchen  hast  du  umgetrillet, 
Manchen  klugen  Kopf  beriilpet, 
Manchen  Magen  umgestilpet." 

The  repetition  of  the  same  word  at  the  beginning 
of  each  line  gives  a  peculiar  uniformity  and  adds 
force  to  the  verse.  But  our  attention  is  called  in 
particular  to  the  rime  and  setting  of  beriilpet  — 
umgestilpet.  This  rime  would  have  been  decidedly 
improved  if  Schiller  had  used  the  correct  spelling: 
umgestwlpet.  In  that  case  the  ii  would  have  given 
the  desired  agreement.  He  may,  however,  have 
been  attracted  by  the  alternating  of  ii  and  i  in  the 
last  words,  therefore  sacrificing  the  correct  spelling, 
in  order  to  preserve  this  regularity. 

Ohrgebriimmel  —  Himmel,  I,  213;  Wonnefiille 

—  Stille,  I,  218;  zuriik  —  Blik,  I,  219;  richten  — 
fliichten,  I,  221;  Perille  —  Gebriille,  I,  222.  Pe- 
rillus  (pi.  Perille)  is  supposed  to  have  been  the  first 
Athenian  who  was  punished  for  a  crime,  560  B.  C, 
by  being  roasted  alive  in  a  brazen  bull. 

fliichten  —  lichten  (-to  lift),  I,  223;  umgerissen 

—  kiissen,  I,  226 ;  vermisze  —  kiisze,  erblikt  —  ent- 
ziikt,  Sterbeblik  —  zuriik,  I,  239 ;  willst  —  erfiillst, 
I>  235  ;  Sonnenblik  —  zuriik,  I,  242 ;  aufgeschmukt 

—  erblikt,  I,  246 ;  zuriike  —  Blike,  I,  253 ;  zu- 
ruk  — Blik,  I,  253,  265,  288,  291,  310,  354;  IV, 
12;  XI,  6,  58;  sich  —  Kiich,  I,  257;  Gliike  — 
Blike,  I,  258;  gestiket  —  geschmiiket,  I,  277;  Kin- 
der —  Siinder,    I,    276 ;    entziiket  —  zerkniket,    I, 

^The  general  scheme  in  this  poem  is  a: a,  b:b,  c,  d:d,  e:e,  c,  etc. 

36 


VOWELS  RIMING  WITH  UMLAUTS 

264;  Augenblike  —  Bruke,  I,  279;  Augenblike  — 
zuriike,  I,  280;  nimmer  —  Triimmer,  I,  281; 
Briike  —  erblike,  I,  281,  284;  Entziiken  —  Stra- 
lenblfken,  I,  286,  295,  321;  IV,  12;  abgeknikt  — 
pfliikt,  I,  289;  Getiimmels  —  Himmels,  I,  290;  ist 

—  kiiszt,  I,  294,  310;  diiften —  vergiften,  I,  297; 
Trummer  —  Schimmer,  verblinden  —  Siinden,  I, 
298;  Kirchhoftstille  —  Lustgebriille,  I,  299;  nfken 

—  schmiiken,  I,  307;  Stille — Hiille,  Geklimper  — 
Stiimper,  I,  343  ;  Gift  —  Hiift,  I,  345  ;  entzundet 
— windet,  I,  357;  pfliiket  —  niederbliket,  I,  359; 
Fiirst  —  wirst,  III,  170;  Sitzen  —  spriitzen,  IV,  4. 
Thfs  rime  was  written  in  1785,  but  several  years 
later  it  appears  in  the  "Prachtausgabe"  as:  sitzen  — 
sprit zen;  indicating  that  the  rime  imperfection  had 
come  to  Schiller's  notice  and  therefore  been  im- 
proved, fiillt  —  stillt,  IV,  8;  missen^ — Kiissen, 
Engelblicke  —  zuriicke,  IV,   1 1 . 

Second  period :   Gliik  —  Blik,  IV,  25  ;  Entziiken 

—  Seelenbliken,  IV,  46 ;  Sonnenblik  —  zuriik,  IV, 
51;  schmiicken  —  Blicken,  VI,  20;  driicken  — 
Blicken,  VI,  21,  404;  XI,  3;  Stille  —  Hiille,  VI, 
24;  Blick  —  zuriik,  VI,  26,  268,  279,  365,  381, 
419;  XI,  6,  58;  druckt  —  angeblickt,  VI,  30; 
Geistesfulle  —  Stille,  VI,  264 ;  Geschick  —  zuruck, 
VI,  297,  357,  362,  366;  umstrickt  —  entziickt,  VI, 
269  ;  fliichte  —  Gedichte,  VI,  278  ;  iiberblicken  — 
biicken,  VI,  349;  Blicke  —  Tiicke,  VI,  350;  Fiirst 

—  wirst,  VI,  354;  Blicken  —  zerstiicken,  VI,  356; 
blitzt  —  schutzt,  VI,  358;  Sitzen  —  schiitzen,  VI, 
364;  Gliick  —  Geschick,  VI,  365;  verjungt  — 
schwingt,  Triimmern  —  Zimmern,  VI,  370;  Buben- 
stiicke  —  Blicke,  VI,  373;  ziickt  —  nickt,  Briisten 

—  fristen,     VI,     376;     Triften  —  Schwefelduften, 

37 


THE  RIME  IN  SCHILLER'S  POEMS 

schmiickt  —  angeblickt,  VI,  379;  enthiillt  —  quillt, 
VI,  387  ;  iiberlisten  —  riisten,  VI,  389 ;  BHcken  — 
beriicken,  geschmiickt  —  gestrickt,  VI,  491;  Him- 
mel  —  Getiimmel,  VI,  394;  Geriichte  —  Ange- 
sichte,  Blitzen  —  verspriitzen,  finden  —  griinden, 
VI,  395;  Miitze  —  Fijrstensitze,  VI,  396;  BHcken 

—  Biicken,  VI,  399,  403;  XI,  22;  entriickt  — 
blickt,  anzukiinden  —  finden,  VI,  399 ;  Sterbeblick 

—  zuriick,  VI,  4CX);  bringt  —  verjiingt,  VI,  401; 
Blicke  —  zuriicke,  VI,  408;  XI,  33,  34;  Geriicht 

—  Gesicht,  VI,  418;  gesticket  —  geschmiicket,  XI, 
10;  biicken  —  pfliicken,  XI,  11;  Felsenrissen  — 
Giissen,  XI,  15;  Hiitten  —  Sitten,  XI,  16; 
schmiicken  —  Biicken,  XI,  18;  fiillt  —  iiber- 
schwillt,  XI,  24;  Hiitte  —  Sitte,  XI,  33;  erschiit- 
tert  —  erzittert,  XI,  34;  Hiille  —  Wille,  XI,  36; 
Triften  —  Liiften,  XI,  49 ;  Pflichten  —  fliichten, 
XI,  56;  schirmen  —  stiirmen,  XI,  57;  fiillen  — 
Willen,  XI,  59 ;  einzurichten  —  Friichten,  XI,  62. 

Third  period:  Friichte  —  Sonnenlichte,  XI,  197  ; 
verjiingt  —  springt,  verkiindet  —  findet,  XI,  199; 
entrissen  —  Fliissen,  XI,  200 ;  Gliick  —  Blick,  XI, 
207,  231,  233,  260,  267,  309;  erblickt  —  driickt, 
XI,  218;  GebruU  —  still,  XI,  226;  Hiitte— Mitte, 
XI,  238 ;  Bergesrucken  —  Biicken,  XI,  240  ;  sitzen 
' — Stutzen,  XI,  243;  Bruste  —  Christe,'  XI,  253; 
fiillen  —  stillen,  XI,  254 ;  Stille  —  Hiille,  XI,  262 ; 
Willen  —  erfiillen,  XI,  274,  282;  aufgethurmet  — 
schirmet,  XI,  276;  Christuskinde  —  Siinde,  XI, 
279 ;  Biicken  —  schmiicken,  XI,  282 ;  Sitten  — 
Hutten,  XI,  292,  315;  Kluften  —  Triften,  XI, 
292 ;  gefullt  —  schwillt,  schmiicket  —  blicket,  XI, 
295  ;  griinden  —  binden,  XI,  296 ;  Himmel  —  Ge- 
tiimmel,    wimmern  —  Triimmern,      fluchtet  —  ge- 

38 


VOWELS  RIMING  WITH  UMLAUTS 

lichtet,  XI,  311;  gefiillt  —  vergilt,  XI,  312; 
Schritte  —  Heimathhiitte,  XI,  314;  bindet  —  griin- 
det,  XI,  315;  Ewigblinden  —  ziinden,  XI,  318; 
Gliik  —  Liebesblik,  XI,  320;  verschwinden  —  ent- 
ziinden,  XI,  324;  Blicken  —  Biicken,  XI,  333; 
Griinden  —  finden,  XI,  334;  Stille  —  Hiille,  XI, 
344;  Winden  —  anziinden,  XI,  345;  driickt  — 
blickt,  XI,  349;  Briicke  —  Augenblicke,  XI,  351, 
359  ;  Spftzen  —  schiitzen,  XI,  352  ;  Geschwister  — 
duster,  gethurmet  —  schirmet,  XI,  358 ;  Sonnen- 
blfcke  —  Briicke,  XI,  360 ;  Geschick  —  zurijck,  XI, 
361;  Fiille  —  Stille,  Griinde  —  Priesterbinde,  XI, 
369;  verkiinden  —  binden,  XI,  370;  schmiickt  — 
blickt,  XI,  371;  finden  —  Siinden,  XI,  373;  Ge- 
schick —  zuriick,  XI,  375  ;  Blicken  —  entziicken, 
XI,  383  ;  Tiicke  —  Blicke,  strickt  —  hochbegliickt, 
XI,  392;  Blicken  —  loszudriicken,  XI,  403;  Ge- 
schwister—  duster,  XI,  356. 

b)    Long  u   :  long  i  (ie)   rimes: 

First  period:    Gefiihl  —  Ziel,  I,  27,   179;  zieren 

—  fiihren,  I,  46;  Flugeln  —  spiegeln,  I,  47;  gliihn 

—  entziehn,  I,  48  ;  liegen  —  Vergniigen,  Gebiete  — 
Giite,  I,  51;  siisz  —  Paradis,  I,  107,  180;  Hiigel  — 
Ziegel,  I,  108;  Fiihlen  —  spielen,  I,  129;  Niebe- 
siegten  —  liigten,^  I,  131;  Gewiihl  —  Lottospiel, 
ausstaffirt  —  fiihrt,  I,  181  ;  Hiigeln — Todesriegeln, 
I,  182;  spielt  —  fiihlt,  I,  187;  Furstenspiegel  — 
Flugel,  Thier  —  dafiir,  I,  189;  Gebliit  —  flieht,  I, 
190;  gliihn  —  fliehn,  I,  192;  riihren  —  desertieren, 
I,  194;  geniiget  —  besieget,  I,  194;  Ungestiim  — 
Serafim,  I,  216;  zerflieszen  —  griiszen,  I,  220; 
Fantasie'n  —  bluhn  —  verliehn,    I,    227  ;   Ziigen  — 

^  An  unusual  preterite  subjunctive  form. 

39 


THE  RIME  IN  SCHILLER'S  POEMS 

wiegen,  I,  228;  Briider  —  wieder,  I,  231,  232,  233, 
233;  Briider  —  Glieder,  I,  233,  279,  282;  kniet  — 
entgliiht,  bctriigt  —  wfegt,  I,  234;  Gefiihl  —  Won- 
nespiel,  I,  242;  driiben  —  lieben,  I,  243;  gegliiht  — 
verrieth,  I,  249;  riechen  —  Fliichen,  I,  253;  be- 
triigen  —  liegen,  bliihn  —  fortzufiiehn,  I,  238;  mir 

—  fiir,  I,  254;  Gefiihl  —  niederfiel,  I,  261;  dir  — 
dafiir,  I,  264;  voriiber  —  Heber,  I,  267;  betrii- 
ben  —  Ifeben,  I,  271,  280;  Hute  —  Gebiete,  I, 
282;  griisen  —  Paradiesen,  I,  283.  The  spelling 
griisen  for  griiszen  is  surprising  and  can  be  ac- 
counted for  in  either  of  two  ways.  It  is  possible 
that  the  poet  was  aiming  at  rime  perfection,  which 
was  partly  accomplished  by  his  peculiar  orthography. 
It  is,  however,  probable  that  he  was  not  aware  of 
any  existing  difference  between  the  value  of  the 
single  s  and  the  ss  or  sz.  This  point  is  discussed 
later,  where  the  evidence  seems  to  establish  the 
lack  of  distinction  between  s,  ss  and  sz  as  a.  fact. 
Kornerweltgewule  —  Ziele,  I,  285  ;  mir  —  dafiir, 
I,  187,  310;  trubten  —  Geliebten,  I,  288;  begriiszt 

—  iiberflieszt,  I,  290;  liegen  —  pfliigen,  triiben  — 
lieben,  I,  297  ;  vier  —  dafiir.  Spiel  —  kiihl,  I,  306; 
Kuhle  —  Spiele,  I,  304;  Riegel  —  Fliigel,  I,  281; 
Ungestiim  —  ihm,  I,  346 ;  spriihen  —  knieen,  I, 
353  ;  kriechen  —  Fliichen,  I,  358 ;  voriiber  —  lieber, 
III,  164;  Vergnugen  —  Schmiegen,  III,  165;  Ver- 
gniigen  —  wiegen,  zuzufliegen  —  Vergniigen,  III, 
167;  Lieben  —  iiben.  III,  168;  Siege  —  Kriige,  III, 
173;  regieret  —  heimgefiihret,  triibste  —  Liebste, 
III,   174;  wieder  —  P'iirstenbriider,  IV,  i;  Spiegel 

—  Hugel,  IV,  3  ;  Flugel  —  Spiegel,  IV,  7  ;  lieber  — 
voriiber,  triigen  —  liegen,  liebet  —  iibet,  IV,  9 ; 
Federkiel  —  Gefuhl,  Thiir  —  Flugelthier,   IV,    17. 

40 


VOWELS  RIMING  WITH  UMLAUTS 

Second  period :  siisz  —  Paradies,  spielen  —  f iih- 
len,  IV,  21 ;  Engelgiite  —  Gebiete,  IV,  24;  wieder 

—  Bruder,  abgebluht  —  flieht,  IV,  27  ;  Liigen  — 
geschwiegen,  IV,  29  ;  anzuschlieszen  —  versiiszen, 
VI,  2;  vergniigen  —  liegen,  VI,  20;  XI,  18;  re- 
giertet  —  fiihrtet,  VI,  21;  gebieten  —  hiiten,  VI, 
22 ;  gestiegen  —  vergniigen,  VI,  23  ;  Spiegel  — 
Fliigel,  VI,  29,  178;  Gefiihle  —  Spiele,  VI,  31, 
271 ;  XI,  15  ;  Gefiihlen  —  spielen,  VI,  31,  273  ;  XI, 
9;  liebet  —  iibet,  VI,  264;  Spiel  —  Gefiihl,  VI, 
270 ;  Trieben  —  iiben,  VI,  272 ;  Siegen  —  Vergnii- 
gen, VI,  273  ;  vergniiget  —  durchflieget,  Gefiihle  — 
Harmonienspiele,  VI,  277;  verlieren  —  fiihren,  VI, 
351 ;  XI,  55 ;  begruszen  —  schlieszen,  VI,  354;  Sie- 
ger —  Betriiger,  VI,  363  ;  Gliedern  —  Briidern, 
VI,  366;  Thiiren  —  verlieren,  VI,  369;  hiiten  — 
bieten,  VI,  370;  Erkiihnen  —  verdienen,  VI,  373; 
biiszen  —  beschlieszen,  VI,  375  ;  gliiht  —  flieht,  VI, 
377;  XI,  35;  fiigen  —  liegen,  VI,  378;  gliihn  — 
fliehn,  VI,  380,  405 ;  ermiiden  —  entschieden,  VI, 
382;  Vergniigen  —  bestiegen,  VI,  392;  Briider  — 
Gefieder,  VI,  394 ;  regieren  —  fiihren,  VI,  396 ; 
umspielen  —  fiihlen,  VI,  401 ;  Siegen  —  triigen,  VI, 
405;  anzubieten  —  vergiiten,  VI,  411;  Thiere  — 
fiihre,  VI,  416;  Befliigelt  —  spiegelt,  Gefiihl  — 
Spiel,  VI,  429 ;  refiert  —  gefiihrt,  XI,  3  ;  Urigestiim 

—  ihm,  XI,  15  ;  Siege  —  Liige,  XI,  16 ;  Gefiihle  — 
Ziele,  XI,  35;  Ziige  — Wiege,  XI,  36;  Gefiihl  — 
Ziel,  XI,  57;  Ziele  —  Miihle,  XI,  66. 

Third  period :  erschienen  —  griinen,  Spiegel  — 
Fliigel,  XI,  199;  gliiht  —  zieht,  XI,  201  ;  ziehn  — 
gliihn,  begriiszen  —  iiberflieszen,  XI,  203  ;  flieht  — 
vergliiht,  XI,  207  ;  liegt  —  gefiigt,  fiihret  —  regie- 
ret,  XI,  213;  Thure  —  gratulire,  XI,  214;  befiehlt 

41 


THE  RIME  IN  SCHILLER'S  POEMS 

—  hinwegspiilt,  XI,  222 ;  Gefiihl  —  Spiel,  XI,  225  ; 
driiben  —  Heben,  XI,  238 ;  verdient  —  erkiihnt,  XI, 
248;  bier  —  fiir,  XI,  250;  sieht  —  Gemiitb,  XI, 
258;  geschwiegen  —  Ziigen,  XI,  265;  Gefiible  — 
Spiele,  XI,  267  ;  Briider  —  nieder,  XI,  282 ;  Miihe 

—  Knie,  XI,  287  ;  Griin  —  ziehn,  Hiiter  —  Ge- 
bieter,  XI,  288  ;  geliehn  —  bliihn,  XI,  293  ;  Gefiihl 

—  Ziel,  XI,  304;  zieret  —  spiiret,  XI,  305;  flieht 

—  verbliiht,  XI,  308;  Mitgefiihl  —  Spiel,  XI, 
319;  umschniirt  —  ziert,  gedient  —  gegriint,  XI, 
322 ;  miide  —  Liede,  XI,  326 ;  zieh'n  —  entgliih'n, 
XI,  336;  bliihend  —  ziehend,  XI,  337;  Zugen  — 
aufgestiegen,  XI,  341  ;  fliehend  —  bliihend,  XI, 
342 ;  versiegt  —  gefiigt,  Brudern  —  Gliedern,  XI, 
35 1 >  352;  Gemiitb  —  geschieht,  XI,  365;  Miide  — 
Pelide  (Achilles),  XI,  368;  gliihen  —  ziehen,  XI, 
369 ;  Gespielen  —  fiihlen,  getriibt  —  liebt,  XI, 
371;  Spiele  —  Gewiihle,  gluhn  —  fliehn,  XI, 
372  ;  Gefiihl  —  Spiel,  XI,  374 ;  Sieben  —  iiben,  XI, 
382;  sieht  —  bliiht,  XI,  391;  ziemen  —  riihmen, 
XI,  392 ;  Ziel  —  Schmerzgefiihl,  XI,  395  ;  susz  — 
Paradiesz,  XI,  396;  friih  —  nie,  XI,  399;  schiirt 
— verliert,  XI,  401 ;  bliihen  —  ziehen,  XI,  402 ; 
griinen  —  Ruinen,  XI,  413;  Gebiet  —  bliiht,  XI, 
333  ;  begriiszen  —  flieszen,  XI,  362  ;  Wessieren  — 
fiihren,  XI,  417.  A  Wessier  (English:  vizier)  is 
an  high  official  in  a  Mohammedan  country. 

c)  The  short  ii  :  long  i  rime  occurs  only  four 
times  in  the  second  period :  Geisterwiirde  —  Be- 
gierde,  VI,  265  ;  Gedankenwiirde  —  Begierde,  VI, 
270;  Begierde  —  Biirde,  VI,  358;  Biirde  —  Flug- 
begierde,  XI,  20;  and  once  near  the  close  of  the 
third  period:    Zierde  —  wiirde,  XI,  316. 


42 


VOWELS  RIMING  WITH  UMLAUTS 

d)     Long  u    :  short  i  rimes: 

First  period:    Morgenbliith  —  mit,  I,   178;  risz 

—  siisz,  I,  180 ;  Narzissen  —  Fiiszen,  I,  238 ;  bluhte 

—  Mitte,    I,    263  ;    Lowengrimm  —  Ungestiim,    I» 
346 ;  gliihn  —  Konigin,   I,  28. 

Second  period :  bin  —  Griin,  VI,  30 ;  gerissen  — 
Fiiszen,  VI,  359;  fristen  —  verwusten,  VI,  401; 
bliihn  —  dahin,  XI,  17;  Fiissen  —  wissen,  XI,  65. 

Third  period:  siisze  —  wisse,  XI,  215;  kiihn  — 
bin,  XI,  226;  griin  —  bin,  XI,  334;  dahin  —  griin, 
XI,  339;  eingebissen  —  Fiiszen,  XI,  354;  gerissen 

—  Fiiszen,  XI,  385. 

Fischer  designates  the  exact  value  of  long  ii  in 
the   Swabian   dialect  as  follows: 

fiiren,  schw.  fiere,  ie  being  equivalent  to  German 
ie  in  Dieb. 

begriissen,  schw.  begriesse. 
Bad-kubel,  schw.  Badkibel. 
betriigen,  schw.  eigentlich  —  ie,  etc. 

In  the  short  vowels  the  quality  is  the  same,  as: 

Biichsej  schw.  Biks. 

Biijfei  schw.  Bifl. 

Battel,  schw.  Bidi. 

Briiste,  schw.  Brischte.  This  last  form  is  inter- 
esting also  because  of  the  value  of  st,  which  in  this 
position  is  equivalent  to  scht.  Also  the  preceding 
form  Biittel,  in  which  the  tt  is  pronounced  as  d 
only.  These  peculiarities,  however,  do  not  affect 
the  ii. 

As  we  have  seen  above,  the  value  of  ii  in  the 
Swabian  is  equivalent  to  i.  This,  then,  practically 
reduces  all   combinations   in   this  chapter   to   i   :   i 

43 


THE  RIME  IN  SCHILLER'S  POEMS 


rimes,  and  there  is  no  irregularity  except  the  com- 
bination between  the  long  and  short  vowels. 

The  following  table  will  show  at  a  glance  the 
relative   frequency  of  the  ii   :  i  rime: 


Rime : 
Quantity ; 


ii:  I 

FIRST 
PERIOD 

SECOND 
PERIOD 

THIRD 
PERIOD 

TOTAL 

w  •'    *-- 

74 

73 

61 

208 

—  :  — 

80 

57 

56 

193 

'^   :  — 

4 

I 

5 

—  :    ■^ 

6- 

5 

6 

'7 

160 

139 

124 

423 

As  can  be  seen  by  the  frequency  of  its  occur- 
rence, 423  times,  the  ii  :  i  rime  was  quite  a  favorite 
with  Schiller,  as  it  was  with  other  Swabian  poets. 

From  a  comparison  of  the  three  periods  in  the 
above  tabulation,  it  is  obvious  that  Schiller  never 
considered  the  ii  :  i  type  a  poor  rime,  though  its 
frequency  of  occurrence  constantly  decreases  in  each 
succeeding  period.  Northern  influence  can  not  be 
made  responsible  in  this  case  for  the  decreasing  fre- 
quency, since  the  Saxon  and  Thiiringian  dialects 
make  no  distinction  between  ii  and  i.  The  decrease 
is  probably  largely  due  to  the  poet's  growing  ability 
to  distinguish  between  perfect  and  imperfect  rime 
schemes. 

The  following  quotation  shows  how  commonly 
Schiller  used  this  ii  :  i  combination  in  his  youth, 
for  he  wrote  the  poem  containing  these  lines  at  the 
age  of  eighteen.     However  oblivious  to  its  imper- 

44 


VOWELS  RIMING  WITH  UMLAUTS 

fections  he  may  have  been  at  that  time,  in  later 
years  it  is  impossible  to  find  consecutive  lines  with 
so  many  occurrences  of  the  ii  :  i  rime: 

"Ja  ruft,   mit  jauchzendem   Getiimmel: 
Er  ists,  Er  ists,  vom  hohen  Himmel 
Zum  Wonnetag  uns  zugeschickt: 
Ihr  sahet  ihn!  welch  seltnes  Gliike! 
Wem  bleibt  nicht  jeder  seiner  Blike 
Tief  in  die  Seele  eingedriikt!"     I,  50. 

( Schwabisches  Magazin,  1777,  S.  575-578.) 


45 


Ill 

UMLAUT    RIMING    WITH    UM- 
LAUT 

After  the  discussions  in  the  preceding  chapter, 
on  pure  vowels  in  rime  with  umlauts,  it  becomes 
a  comparatively  easy  matter  to  dispose  of  the  um- 
laut combinations.  For,  by  either  single  or  double 
substitution,  we  get  rimes  similar  to  those  found 
in  chapter   II,   page  27  fiE. 

Let  us  consider,   for  example,   the  a:  6  rime. 

In  the  Swabian  dialect  i,  e,  6  have  practically 
the  same  phonetic  value,  meeting  at  e.  Take,  then, 
Oj  which  is  coupled  in  rime  with  e^  as :  Gotter  — 
Vetter,  schon  —  gehn,  Reh  —  Hoh,  etc.  (p.  31). 
In  each  of  these  cases  the  0  is  phonetically  equiva- 
lent to  ej  and  the  words  in  question  are  pronounced 
Getter,  schen,  Heh.^  Substituting  this  e  for  0  in 
the  a  :  6  rime,  under  present  consideration,  we  get 
an  a  :  e  rime,  which  has  been  discussed  (Chap.  II, 
p.  27  ff),  with  the  conclusion  that  it  closely  ap- 
proaches phonetic  perfection. 

Vowel  quantity  may  be  ignored  in  the  present 
chapter,  for  there  is  no  discrepancy  with  regard  to 
length  in  this  class. 

^Hildebrand  (p.  353)  verifies  this  statement  by  calling  atten- 
tion to  the  fact  that  the  Swabian  pronounces  hochste  SchoHheit 
with  e  as  the  root  vowel  in  both  words,  likewise  Goethes  Gotz 
•as  Gehdes  Gets,  etc. 

46 


UMLAUT  RIMING  WITH  UMLAUT 

I.    a  in  rime  with  o. 

a)  Short  a   :  short  6  rime: 

The  rime  in  the  short  vowels  occurs  seven  times, 
as  follows:  Geholze  —  Gewalze,  I,  248;  geschopfet 
— abgezapfet,  I,  251;  blattert  —  vergottert,  I,  359; 
Verachter  —  Tochter,  III,  9;  Rocken  —  Packen, 
VI,  29;  Gotter  —  Blatter,  XI,  11;  Gotzen  — 
Schatzen,  XI,  410. 

b)  The  long  a  :  long  6  rime  occurs  thirteen  times, 
as  follows: 

Waisenthrane  —  Jammertone,  XI,  222 ;  unter- 
thanig  —  Konig,  I,  240;  XI,  230;  Thranen  — 
Silbertonen,  I,  262 ;  spahte  —  Morgenrothe,  I,  282 ; 
nahrt  —  gehort,  I,  289 ;  hohnen  —  Thranen,  I,  309 ; 
Konig  —  unterthanig,  III,  168;  fahrt  —  hort,  VI, 
395  ;  Trane  —  Getone,  XI,  46 ;  Hohe  —  Nahe,  XI, 
197,  278,  403. 

By  the  substitution  of  the  phonetic  values  sug- 
gested above: 

blattert  —  vergottert  becomes  blattert  —  verget- 
tert; 

Trane  —  Getone   becomes   Trane  —  Getene  ; 

nahrt  —  gehort  becomes  nahrt  —  gehert,  etc. 

This  process  clearly  makes  the  a  :  6  rime  identical 
with  the  type  discussed  in  Chapter  II,  i,  where 
the  a  :  e  rime  is  considered  pure  when  the  quantity 
of  the  riming  vowels  coincides. 

The  conclusion  therefore  follows,  that  the  above 
a  :6  rime  is  to  be  regarded  as  pure  in  Swabian. 

Its  relative   frequency  of  occurrence  by  periods 
is  as  follows:  First  period,  eleven  cases;  second  pe- 
riod, five  cases;  and  the  third  period,   four;  indi- 
cating a  gradual  decrease. 
47 


THE  RIME  IN  SCHILLER'S  POEMS 

2.    a  in  rime  with  ii. 

We  find  this  combination  only  twice  in  the  short 
and  once*  in  the  long  vowels.  Two  cases  are  in 
the  poet's  "Jugendwerke,"  the  other  early  in  the 
second  period.  Long:  Sternenbiihne  —  Thrane,  I, 
237.     Short:  Miinze  —  Kranze,  I,  343;  bandigen 

—  siindigen,  IV,  25. 

According  to  Hildebrand  (p.  353)  and  Fischer 
the  Swabian  ii  in  accented  syllables  is  equivalent  to 
Modern  German  i.      (See  p.  43  f.) 

Chapter  II,  6,  contains  i  in  rime  with  ii,  in  miide 

—  Liede,  Tiicke  —  Blicke,  Sitten  —  Hiitten,  etc. 
Since  this  ii  is  equivalent  to  i,  we  have  the  follow- 
ing values:  mide,  Ticke,  Hitte.  If  we  now  sub- 
stitute this  i  in  the  ii  :  ii  rime,  we  have  an  H  :  i 
rime,  which  coincides  with  the  type  in  chapter  II,  2, 
where  we  have  discussed  the  Swabian  tendency  of 
treating  i-\-n  as  e  nasal.  (Fene  for  Christophine, 
etc.) 

It  will  now  also  be  noticed  that  in  each  of  these 
combinations  ( Sternenbihne  —  Thrane,  Minze  — 
Kranze,  bandigen  —  sindigen)  the  i  substituted  for 
ii  is  followed  by  n,  thereby  becoming  e  nasalized. 
The  rime  therefore  virtually  becomes  H  :  e,  which 
is  phonetically  pure  in  the  Schriftsprache. 

If  we  employ  the  above  process  of  substitution, 

Miinze  becomes  Minze  becomes  Menze — Krdnze. 

Sternenbiihne  becomes  -bihne  becomes  Sternen- 
behne  —  Thrane. 

bandigen  —  siindigen  becomes  sindigen  becomes 
sendigen. 

Although  in  this  manner  the  above  rimes  can  be 
made   to   appear   fairly   acceptable   in  the   Swabian 

48 


UMLAUT  RIMING  WITH  UMLAUT 

dialect,  they  can  not  be  justified  from  the  point  of 
view  of  modern  pronunciation  and  must  be  rejected 
from  the  general  point  of  view  as  very  impure. 
Schiller  must  have  realized  this,  for  he  uses  the 
combination  only  twice  in  his  "Jugendwerke,"  and 
once  soon  thereafter. 


49 


IV 
DIPHTHONGS 

1.  The  ai  :  eu  rime  (Freude  —  Waide,  I,  4) 
occurs  only  twice.  Once  in  the  very  first  poem 
written  to  his  parents  by  Schiller,  when  but  nine 
years  old,  under  the  title  "Gedicht  zum  Neujahr." 
The  second  time  he  uses  it  in  the  year  preceding 
his  death  (1804)  in  verses  occurring  in  "Wilhelm 
Tell"   (neu  — May,  XI,  396). 

Fischer  gives  the  pronunciation  of  bedeuten  as 
bedeiten,  like  ei  in  German  Blei.  In  Beule  the 
diphthong  also  has  the  value  of  ei.  From  these 
and  similar  words  it  appears  that  the  Swabian  pro- 
nounces eu  like  i  in  English  mine,  German  mein. 

The  modern  German  knows  no  phonetic  differ- 
ence between  ai  and  ei,  as  Waisen  —  weisen.  May 
—  dabei,  etc.  Then,  bearing  in  mind  Schiller's  nat- 
ural pronunciation  of  eu,  Freude  —  Waide,  neu  — 
May,  were  perfect  rimes  for  him,  and  it  is  sur- 
prising that  he  does  not  use  them  oftener. 

2.  In  "Rouszeau,"  1782,  we  find  the  ai :  au' 
rime,  Kraise — Mause,  I,  223. 

Like  the  Modern  German,  the  Swabian  makes 
no  distinction  between  eu  and  du.    As  for  example: 

Die  Mduse  sind  durch  das  Feuer  aus  den  Hdusern 
verscheucht  worden. 

The  Swabian  would  say: 

Die  Meise  sind  duch  das  Feier  aus  den  Heisern 
verscheicht  worden. 

50 


DIPHTHONGS 

3.    ei  in  rime  with  eu. 

First  period :  schweigen  —  bezeugen,  I,  48  ;  weint 

—  Menschenfreund,  I,  50;  zerstreun  —  seyn,  I, 
129;  vereint  —  Freund,  I,  133;  steigt  —  fleugt,  I, 
179;  Jugendfreunde  —  Rosenkleide,  I,   180;  freute 

—  Geleite,  Geist  —  fleuszt,  I,  182 ;  Schaarenweis  — 
Prometheus,  I,  186;  geuszt  —  reiszt,  I,  210; 
Schleyer  —  Feuer,  I,  217,  234,  287;  Seuchen  — 
Reichen,  I,  221;  Basiliskenpfeile  —  Krokodilge-' 
heule,  I,  222 ;  Meilen  —  heulen,  I,  227  ;  Feuer  — 
Leyer,  I,  246;  Neune  —  kleine,  I,  244;  Donnerkeil 

—  Geheul,  I,  255  ;  beteufeln  —  verzweffeln,  I,  270 ; 
euch  —  Fliegenreich,  277  ;  Reue  —  verzeihe,  Freude 

—  Eingeweide,  I,  278;  beugt  —  neigt,  I,  291; 
Zweifel  —  Teufel,  I,  292 ;  Seuchen  —  schleichen, 
I,  299  ;  iiberschneyt  —  heut,  Schmeicheley  —  neu,  I, 
303  ;  Freuden  —  beneiden,  freu'n  —  mein,  I,  304, 
306;  Zeit  —  heut,  I,  306;  zwei  —  treu,  euch  — 
Konigreich,  vorbei  —  treu,  I,  307  ;  Schmeichlern  — 
Heuchlern,  I,  308 ;  Freude  —  Leyde,  I,  31 1 ;  beugen 

—  steigen,  I,  314;  Donnerkeulen  —  eilen,  I,  321; 
Freund  —  Feind,  I,  346;  ey  —  nagelneu,  I,  349; 
feyren  —  Theuren,  I,  352 ;  freun  —  Pein,  IH,  165  ; 
seyn  —  erfreun,   IV,  3  ;  getreu  —  vorbei,  IV,  9. 

Second  period :  geweiht  —  bereut,  IV,  25  ;  Freude 

—  weide,  IV,  100;  feyern  —  erneuern,  VI,  2,  10; 
sein  —  freun,  VI,  8,  276,  351;  Feuer  —  Leier,  VI, 
22  ;  freuten  —  Zeiten,  VI,  27  ;  Beute  —  vermale- 
deyte,  VI,  30 ;  geweiht  —  gebeut,  VI,  267  ;  Freuden 
—  weiden,  VI,  270;  XI,  55;  gebeut  —  Ewigkeit, 
VI,  274;  Reich  —  euch,  VI,  275,  276;  Zeit  —  aus- 
gestreut,  VI,  275;  erfreute  —  Seite,  VI,  351;  Ge- 
heule  —  Beile,  VI,  457;  schweigen  —  zeugen,  VI, 

51 


THE  RIME  IN  SCHILLER'S  POEMS 

358;  Heulen  —  theilen,  Heide  —  Freude,  VI,  361; 
Beute  —  Streite,  VI,  366 ;  fleugt  —  zeigt,  steiget  — 
beuget,  VI,  375;  Dunkelheit  —  gebeut,  VI,  375; 
Beyden  —  Freuden,  VI,  379;  Schleyer  —  Feuer, 
VI,  390;  steigen  —  beugen,  VI,  383,  384;  geneigt 

—  gezeugt,  VI,  386;  streun  —  seyn,  VI,  394;  be- 
schleunigt — gepeinigt,  VI,  399;  beugt — neigt,  VI, 
408;  Beute  —  Streite,  VI,  411;  rein  —  freun,  VI, 
412;  zerstreun  —  seyn,  VI,  414;  freun  —  Gebein, 
VI,  415;  Freuden  —  Leiden,  VI,  417;  steigen  — 
Zeugen,  VI,  418;  gebeut — Streit,  VI,  419;  scheut 

—  Notwendigkeit,  XI,  13;  Freund  —  Feind,  XI, 
14;  scheiden  —  Freuden,  XI,  23,  27;  Streit  —  er- 
neut,  XI,  33 ;  erfreut  —  geweiht,  XI,  48 ;  euch  — 
Schattenreich,  XI,  55;  entzweye —  Reue,  XI,  56; 
schweigen  —  Zeugen,  XI,  58 ;  bleich  —  euch,  Far- 
benfeuer  —  Schleier,  Leuen  —  befreyen,  XI,  60  ; 
Scheune  —  Seine,  XI,  62. 

Third  period:  Zeus  —  Reis,  XI,  199;  Steige  — 
Zeuge,  XI,  200 ;  Zweigen  —  Zeugen,  XI,  208  ;  heut 

—  Zeit,  XI,  212;  Feier  —  theuer,  XI,  214;  steil  — 
Geheul,  XI,  220;  heulen  —  Weilen,  XI,  222; 
Leu'n  —  hinein,  XI,  228 ;  befreyet  —  zerstreuet, 
XI,  231;  Neide  —  Freude,  verleyhn  —  streun,  XI, 
232 ;  Beile  —  Keule,  XI,  235  ;  Schweitz  —  Kreutz, 
XI,  236 ;  euch  —  gleich,  XI,  240 ;  Reu  —  f rei,  XI, 
245  ;  leicht  —  feucht,  XI,  247  ;  gebeut  —  Lustern- 
heit,  XI,  249;  weich — euch,  XI,  250;  bereit — ge- 
beut, XI,  251  ;  verzeiht  —  gebeut,  XI,  254;  Zwei- 
gen —  zeugen,  XI,  261 ;  Leu'n  —  befrein,  XI,  275  ; 
Beute  —  Weite,  XI,  276 ;  Emsigkeit  —  erneut,  XI, 
277  ;  keuchen  —  weichen,  XI,  279  ;  theilet  —  heulet, 
XI,  289;  befreien  —  bereuen,  XI,  284;  gebeut  — 
Zeit,  XI,  285;  File  — Keule,  gleich  — euch,   XI, 

52 


DIPHTHONGS 

287;  Zweye  — Trcue,  XI,  288;  beide  —  Freude, 
XI,  289;  Zeus  —  Kreis,  XI,  299,  340;  Scheu  — 
frey,  XI,  318;  frey  —  neu,  XI,  320;  Schmeichel- 
freunde  —  Feinde,  XI,  327  ;  leiten  —  deuten,  XI, 
355;  freut  —  Herrlichkeit,  XI,  357;  schweigen  — 
zeugen,  XI,  363;  Vergangenheit — streut,  XI,  364; 
Zeiten  —  bedeuten,  XI,  364,  386;  Zeus — Sternen- 
kreis,  XI,  365  ;  freuten  —  Zeiten,  XI,  366 ;  gebeut 

—  Ewigkeit,  XI,  375  ;  Bliithenzeit  —  erneut,  XI, 
377  ;  erfreun  —  Wein,  XI,  388  ;  Freuden  —  Leiden, 
XI,  390;  freun  —  seyn,  XI,  392  ;  schweigen  —  zeu- 
gen, XI,  394;  Weite  —  Beute,  erreicht  —  kreucht, 
XI,  397;  erzeugen  —  schweigen,  XV,  418. 

The  ei:  eu  rime  is  quite  popular  with  Schiller. 
He  uses  it  forty-five  times  in  the  first  period,  fifty- 
four  times  in  the  second,  and  fifty-four  times  in  the 
third  period,  showing  that  he  considered  it  a  good 
rime.  This  combination  has  really  been  explained 
under  the  first  case  in  this  chapter.  We  there  tried 
to  show  that  the  phonetic  value  of  eu  is  ei  in  the 
Swabian,  and  for  that  reason  it  rimes  with  ai.  If 
eu  is  equivalent  to  eij  then  the  two  terms  in  the 
ei :  eu  type  become  identical,  and  hence  rime  per- 
fectly. So  Schiller  used  it  freely,  to  the  great  satis- 
faction of  the  Swabian  people.  This  fact,  however, 
makes  it  by  no  means  a  pure  rime  in  the  Schrift- 
sprache. 

4.    ei  in  rime  with  au. 

First  period:  traumen  —  reimen,  I,  182;  stauben 

—  treiben,  I,  183;  getraumt  —  gereimt,  gesaugt  — 
steigt,  I,  221;  Traume  —  Morgenkeime,  I,  226; 
IV,  6;  treibt  —  straubt,  I,  234;  Beicht  —  daucht, 
I,  257  ;  Geschaume  —  Keime,  I,  297  ;  Traumen  — 

53 


THE  RIME  IN  SCHILLER'S  POEMS 

keimen,  III,  i66;  Keimen  —  Baumen,  IV,  3;  auf- 
gehauft  —  durchschweift,  IV,  20. 

Second  period :  gestraubt  —  treibt,  VI,  266 ; 
durcheilen  —  Saulen,  VI,  273  ;  Einigkeit  —  dreut, 
VI,  274;  aufgehaufet — zugereifet,  VI,  276;  Eile — 
Saule,  VI,  361;  gehauft  —  schleift,  VI,  375;  weit 

—  draut,  VI,  407;  umzaunt  —  scheint,  VI,  390; 
Keimen  —  Traumen,  XI,  23. 

Third  period:  Fauste — Geiste,  XI,  234;  Strauche 

—  Teiche,  XI,  235  ;  draun  —  Reihn,  XI,  276 ;  Lau- 
fen  —  greifen,  XI,  277 ;  weile  —  Saule,  XI,  293  ; 
eilen  —  Saulen,  XI,  297  ;  braunen  —  erscheinen, 
XI,  308 ;  Feuersaule  —  Zeile,  XI,  311;  Gebaude  — 
Weide,  XI,  316;  gehauft  —  gereift,  XI,  317;  Sau- 
len—  weilen,  XI,  356;  Saulen  —  heilen,  XI,  366; 
Lorbeerreisern  —  Hausern,  XI,  468 ;  Braute  — 
weihte,  XI,  371;  greifen  —  haufen,  XI,  411. 

Under  cases  one  and  two  in  this  chapter  we  have 
seen  how  ai^  eUj  du  are  placed  in  rime  with  each 
other.  Also  that  there  is  no  distinction  in  either 
Swabian  or  Modern  German  between  ai  and  ei. 
Consequently  the  ei :  du  combination  is  analogous 
to  the  above  types.  In  fact  the  entire  chapter  con- 
tains nothing,  phonetically  speaking,  but  the  ai :  ei 
rime,  according  to  the  Swabian  pronunciation.  But 
according  to  the  High  German  value  all  types  may 
be  said  to  be  equivalent  to  the  ai :  eu  type,  which  is^ 
of  course,  impure. 

From  the  following  table  we  see  that  the  ei :  eu 
type  is  far  more  frequent  than  any  of  the  others, 
in  fact  four  times  as  common  as  all  other  types  com- 
bined, occurring  153  times,  while  other  forms  are 
found  39  times. 

The  Modern  German  ai :  eu  rime,  which  is  pho- 
54 


DIPHTHONGS 

netically  equivalent  to  Swabian  ai:  ei,  occurs  in  the 
following  types: 


FIRST 
PERIOD 

SECOND 
PERIOD 

THIRD 
PERIOD 

TOTAL 

ai  :eu 

■ 

I 

2 

ai  :au 

I 

I 

ei  :eu 

45 

54 

54 

153 

ei  :au 

12 

9 

15 

36 

Total 

59 

63 

70 

192 

In  comparing  the  totals  of  the  three  periods,  we 
find  that  Schiller  did  not  consider  it  necessary  to 
discontinue  the  general  rime  scheme  of  diphthongs 
treated  in  this  chapter.  It  may  seem  striking  that 
the  ei :  au  form  should  occure  twice  as  often  in  the 
third  as  in  the  second  period,  but  this  is  merely  a 
phonetic  variation  of  the  general  type  of  the  diph- 
thongs ei :  eu. 


55 


CONSONANTS 

Several  consonants,  which  differ  slightly  in  Mod- 
ern German,  are  placed  in  rime  by  Schiller,  regard- 
less of  their  differences;  i.  e.,  the  dentals  d  and  t, 
the  gutturals  g  and  k,  the  sibilants  s,  ss,  szj  are  in 
each  case  made  to  rime  with  each  other. 

I .  The  general  d  :  t  rime  clearly  consists  of 
two  distinct  types,  d  :  t  medial  and  d :  t  final. 

a)  Concerning  the  d  and  /  in  medial  position, 
Kauffman  (p.  183)  says:  "Die  stimmlose  lenis  (d) 
entspricht  mhd.  d  (aus  d)  und  /  (aus  d)  und  wird 
gesprochen,  inlautend:  wide^^wtiAc,  gulde^=g\i\Atn, 
fedic h=hrtig,  krode=geTa.ten,  gelungen,"  etc. 

From  this  statement  and  many  examples  that  we 
might  collect,  we  find  even  by  the  orthography  that 
the  Swabian  often  uses  d  medial  where  the  Schrift- 
sprache  uses  /.  It  must  be  for  this  reason  that 
Schiller  rimes  voiceless  /  with  voiced  dj  as  follows: 

First  period:  spriihte  —  miide,  I,  191;  rathen  — 
laden,  I,  193  ;  gleichbalden  —  behalten,  I,  208 ;  Bote 
— Tode,  I,  230;  drunter  —  wunder,  I,  246;  Lande 
—  bekannte,  I,  256 ;  baden  —  braten,  I,  270 ;  her- 
unter  —  Wunder,  I,  272,  280;  Advokaten  —  Wa- 
den,  I,  276;  Labyrinthen  —  winden,  I,  281;  Ge- 
biete  —  Liede,  Verbannter  —  einander,  I,  282 ;  Klei- 
der  —  heiter,  I,  47  ;  Planeten  —  reden,  I,  296 ;  ba- 
den —  Saaten,  I,  28 ;  Rosenpfaden  —  Thaten,  I,  47  ; 
ausgebadet  —  bratet,  I,  130;  Helden  —  Welten,  I, 

56 


CONSONANTS 

27;  vergolden  —  rollten,  I,  180;  tandelt  —  beman- 
telt,  I,  341;  Boten  —  Noten,  I,  354;  Kleinigkeiten 
—  lelden,  III,  167;  Gallakleide  —  reite,  III,  173; 
herunter  —  Wunder,  III,  1 74 ;  vergelten  —  melden, 
IV,  3  ;  ermiidet  —  briitet,  IV,  11;  Freude  —  heute, 
IV,  14. 

Second  period :  vorgeladen  —  entrathen,  IV,  25  ; 
•soke  —  Golde,  VI,  7  ;  abgeschieden  —  anzubieten, 
VI,  268;  Brautgewande  —  Unbekannte,  VI,  275; 
Pfaden  —  errathen,  VI,  381 ;  zitterten  —  liebenden, 
XI,  9. 

Third  period :  verodet — getotet,  XI,  273  ;  oden — 
Sturmesnothen,  XI,  345  ;  Norden  —  Engelspforten, 
XI,  364;  bestreiten  —  erleiden,  XI,  375;  Boden  — 
Todten,  XI,  391. 

This  type  is  found  twenty-eight  times  in  the  first 
period,  six  times  in  the  second,  and  five  times  in 
the  third. 

b)  Concerning  the  d  and  /  rimed  in  final  position, 
Kauffman  (p.  189)  says:  "Tenuis  aspirata  (th) 
erscheint  auslautend  fiir  inlautende  lenis  und  fortis." 
As  for  example:  ^o/=bote,  ;w^f/— jugend,  oni=und, 
obet=2htndi,  etc. 

It  is  relevant  to  add  here  that  also  in  Modern 
German  the  voiced  stops  become  voiceless  in  final 
position.  Examples  in  d  and  t  are:  Kind,  Land, 
und.  Bad,  Lied,  Gold,  Jagd,  Pferd,  all  of  which 
are  pronounced  as  with  final  t. 

We  may,  therefore,  maintain  that  rimes  of  this 
type  are  phonetically  pure,  and  are  consequently  em- 
ployed quite  freely  by  Schiller  as  well  as  by  Ger- 
man poets  in  general. 

First  period:  Neid  —  Liisternheit,  I,  211;  ausge- 
spannt  —  Land,  I,  218 ;  fort  —  Mord,  I,  229 ;  flieht 
57 


THE  RIME  IN  SCHILLER'S  POEMS 

—  Lied,  I,  234;  verirrt  —  wird,  I,  246;  gerollt  — 
Spiegelgold,  I,  253;  Tumult  —  Pult  —  Schuld,  I, 
254;  Pferd  —  werth,  I,  255;  Schild  —  quillt,  I, 
264;  Ebenbild  —  quillt,  I,  267;  Welt  —  Held,  I, 
272,  344,  347;  unerkannt  —  Band,  I,  289;  Bild  — 
quillt,  I,  291 ;  Feld  —  Welt,  I,  305  ;  zieht  —  Unter- 
shied,  I,  309,  310;  wallt  —  bald,  I,  310;  Gold  — 
rollt,  I,  343 ;  quillt  —  Resenbild,  I,  227 ;  einge- 
spannt  —  Schwanenland,  I,  344,  347 ;  flammenroth 

—  Tod,  I,  358;  entquillt  —  mild,  I,  237;  bekannt 

—  Land,  angestellt  —  Held,  HI,  170;  meint  — 
Feind,  VI,  4;  Held  —  Unterwelt,  IV,  14;  bekannt 

—  Band,  IV,  20 ;  gestillt  —  Ebenbild,  IV,  20. 
Second  period:  zieht  —  Glied,  VI,  271;  schwillt 

—  Jowisbild,  VI,  272;  bekannt  —  stand,  VI,  348; 
unbekannt  —  Band,  VI,  369  ;  quillt  —  mild,  VI, 
378;  Magd  —  zugesagt,  tagt  — jagt,  VI,  390; 
Heerd  —  wiederkehrt,  VI,  392;  Strand  —  unbe- 
kannt, VI,  400;  bedroht — Tod,  VI,  407;  Edelmuth 

—  lud,  VI,  414;  Wort — Mord,  VI,  415;  durch- 
brannt  —  Hand,  VI,  418;  Tod  —  roth,  VI,  419; 
entbrarint  —  Rand,  XI,  20 ;  ausgespannt  —  Hand, 
XI,  22;  ungestillt  —  Sonnenbild,  XI,  25,  29,  32; 
seyd  —  Vergangenheit,  XI,  56 ;  vereint  —  Feind, 
XI,  57;  alt  — Wald,  XI,  62,  63;  Seelenhirt  — 
wird,  XI,  62. 

Third  period:  Noth  —  Tod,  XI,  225  ;  behend  — 
rennt,  XI,  227;  schallt  —  Wald,  XI,  231;  unbe- 
kannt —  Gewand,  XI,  238 ;  alsobald  —  Aufenthalt, 
XI,  252 ;  Ministrant  —  Hand,  XI,  253  ;  Gestalt  — 
bald,  XI,  272;  wuthentbrannt  —  stand,  XI,  280; 
Ort  —  Mord,  XI,  287  ;  schallt  —  Fichtenwald,  ge- 
wandt  —  Hand,  XI,  297 ;  gebrannt  —  Hand,  XI, 
305  ;  Kind  —  beginnt,  beginnt  —  pf eilgeschwind, 
58 


CONSONANTS 

XI,  307;  Gebfet  —  Lied,  XI,  324;  Hexengold  — 
zollt,  XI,  327;  Zufluchtsort  —  Mord,  XI,  332; 
Gold  —  rollt,  Gottermacht  —  Jagd,  XI,  337  ;  Hand 
—  verwandt,  XI,  350;  bekannt  —  Menschenhand, 
XI,  358 ;  Welt  —  Geld,  schwiUt  —  Sonnenbild,  XI, 
364;  Feld  — Welt,  XI,  366;  droht  — Tod,  XI, 
370;  Sakrament  —  behend,  XI,  384;  Pferd  —  be- 
gehrt,  XI,  385. 

The  fact  that  this  type  is  much  more  common 
with  Schiller  than  the  preceding  one  is  apparent 
from  the  following  summary: 


FIRST 
PERIOD 

SECOND 
PERIOD 

THIRD 
PEKIO 

TOTAL 

28 

6 

5 

39 

31 

24 

27 

82 

59 

30 

32 

121 

Type  rt  (d  :  t  medial) 
Type  (5  (d  :  t  final) 
Total 


As  appears  from  a  comparison  of  the  numbers 
in  the  first  column,  Schiller  originally  exercised  only 
slight  preference  between  the  d  :  t  rimeSj  final  and 
medial,  in  favor  of  the  final.  In  the  second  period 
the  choice  betwen  the  d :  t  final,  with  twenty- four 
cases,  and  the  d  :  t  medial,  with  only  six  occurrences, 
becomes  very  striking.  This  predominance  is  even 
greater  in  the  third  period,  as  comparison  shows. 

It  is  strikingly  apparent  from  the  second  and 
third  columns  that  Schiller  early  recognized  a  vast 
difiEerence  as  to  phonetic  value  between  the  d :  t 
rimes,  medial  and  final,  accepting  what  is  even  to- 
day considered  a  good  rime,  and  rejecting  almost 
wholly  what  is  objectionable  up  to  the  present  time. 

59 


THE  RIME  IN  SCHILLER'S  POEMS 

The  influence  of  the  Middle  German  acted  here 
as  a  corrective. 

2.  g  in  rime  with  k. 

nekt  —  hegt,  I,  178;  kek  —  weg,  I,  352;  III, 
172;  Werken — Thatenbergen,  I,  179;  riikt  (riickt) 
—  liigt,  I,  191;  weg — Spek,  I,  212,  212;  Schopf- 
ungswerke  —  Zwerge,  I,  221 ;  schwankt  —  bangt, 
I,  255;  weg  —  keck,  XI,  212,  221. 

Kauffman  (p.  202)  points  otit  that  the  Swabian 
pronounces  final  g  as  k,  and  in  illustrating  this  fact 
he  gives  the  following  examples  among  others: 
frok^ragt,  arek=SiTg,  berk—hcTg,  sc hie k=schlage, 
etc. 

Wehnert  (Goethes  Reim,  p.  43)  finds  that 
Goethe  knows  of  no  such  rime  as  g ;  k,  "von  deren 
gleicher  Aussprache  nur  der  Oberdeutsche  weiss; 
wie  wir  denn  solche  Reime  in  Menge  von  Schiller 
her  kennen."  In  speaking  of  the  "Menge"  of  such 
rimes,  he  must  have  in  mind  Schiller's  entire  works, 
or  else  he  is  mistaken,  for  this  rime  occurs  only 
eleven  times  in  the  poems. 

The  indications  are  that  this  combination  seemed 
quite  acceptable  to  Schiller  in  his  youth,  before 
northern  influences  affected  him;  but  in  the  third 
period  only  one  of  the  formerly  used  rimes  is  found, 
and  that  occurs  only  twice,  while  in  the  second  pe- 
riod this  rime  is  entirely  wanting. 

3.  s  in  rime  with  ss  or  sz. 

Modern  critics  on  versification   generally  agree 
that  the  s :  ss  rime  is  impure,  for  the  High  German 
makes  a  clear  distinction  between  voiceless  ss   (fas- 
sen)  and  voiced  s  (blasen).    This  combination  was 
60 


CONSONANTS 

not '  generally  accepted  during  the  eighteenth  cen- 
tury, although  employed  occasionally  by  some  poets. 
Burger  {Grisebach,  p.  428)  says:  "Sehr  unrein 
und  widerwartig  sind  das  gelinde  s  auf  das  scharfe 
ssj  wenn  ein  Vokel  darauf  folgt."  The  general  at- 
titude toward  this  consonant  combination  may  be 
inferred  from  poets  like  Canitz,  Gellert,  Gleim, 
Haller,  and  Hagedorn,  who  use  no  such  rimes. 

Now  the  question  is:  how  did  Schiller  happen  to 
use  this  s :  ss  rime,  if  it  was  not  generally  used  or 
accepted  at  the  time? 

A.  W.  Schlegel  seems  to  think  that  such  rimes 
betray  the  Swabian.^ 

The  Frankfurt  dialect  knows  practically  no  dif- 
ference between  s  and  ss.  Wiilcker^  says:  "Tonen- 
des  s  fehlt  unserer  Mundart."  Firmenich^  adds  to 
this:  "Das  gelinde  s  ist  der  Frankfurter  Mundart 
fremd,  s,  ss,  sz  sind  daher  iiberall  gleich  ausge- 
sprochen." 

I  call  particular  attention  to  these  authorities  on 
the  Frankfurt  dialect,  because  Wehnert*  maintains 
that  there  is  no  difference  between  the  Frankfurt 
and  the  Swabian  pronunciation  of  s.  He  says: 
"Wir  erkennen  an  Goethes  zahlreichen  s  :  ss  Reimen 
<len  Franken,  der  seine  Aussprache  der  s-Laute  mit 
dem  Schwaben  gemein  hat." 

Since  the  Frankfurt  and  the  Swabian  s  are  found 
to  be  identical,  let  us  now  ascertain  whether  any 
distinction  whatsoever  is  made  between  s  and  ss. 

1  Wenn  jemand  "Schosse"  reimt  auf  "Rose;" 

Auf   "Menschen"    "wiinschen;"   und   in   Prose 

Und  Versen  schillert:   Freunde  wisst, 

Dasz  seine  Heimath  Schwaben  ist. 
■•  Paul   und   Braune,   Beitrage  zur  Geschichte   der  deut.   Sprache, 

IV,  40. 
■8  Germaniens   Volkerstimmen,  II,  62. 
4  Goethes  Reim,  p.  i8.     Dissertation  by  Bruno  Wehnert. 

61 


THE  RIME  IN  SCHILLER'S  POEMS 

On  this  point  Weber^  is  not  at  all  clear,  but  leaves 
it  to  the  judgment  of  the  individual  w^hether  Sj  ss 
are  to  be  used  interchangeably  or  not.  Generally 
he  makes  no  distinction. 

Wehnert  is  positive  that  there  is  a  slight  differ- 
ence. He  says  they  are  pronounced  alike,  but  not 
so,  "dass  der  Gebildete  s  und  ss  in  seiner  Aus- 
sprache  ganz  susammenwiirf e ;  das  w^are  zu  viel  ge- 
sagt.  Ein  Unterschied  im  Sprechen  ist  da,  in  dem 
der  im  Grunde  gleiche  s-Laut  etwa  in  'reissen'  so 
zu  sagen  als  fortis,  in  'reisen'  als  lenis  gesprochen 
wird.  Aber  dieser  Unterschied  ist  nur  klein  und 
lange  nicht  der,  der  er  bei  uns  Norddeutschen  ist, 
wo  s  als  Hauptcharacteristikum  den  Stimmton  hat." 

Belling^  says:  "Schiller  schreibt  zum  Theil  s  fiir 
szj  z.  B.  Rose  —  schlose  (schlosz),  Lose  —  Grose, 
Getose  —  Groose.  Hierauf  hat  w^ohl  der  Dialekt 
eingewirkt.  Weinhold  namlich  bemerkt  in  seiner 
alemanischen  Grammatik,  S.  152:  *Sehr  bemerkens- 
werth  ist  einfaches  s  fiir  sz.  Es  beginnt  im  drei- 
zehnten  Jahrhundert  und  steht  im  Reime  fiir  echtes 
s.  Nach  Langen  neigt  sich  iibrigens  die  heutige 
Mundart  zur  Sibilierung  der  aspirierten  Muta :  ver- 
lose,  getose,  miiese.'  " 

We  find  this  rime  seventeen  times  in  Schiller's 
"Jugendwerke,"  but  only  seven  times  during  the 
second  period,  and  again  ten  times  in  the  third,  as 
follows : 

First  period:  entrissen  —  Eisen,  I,  127;  Friih- 
lingsrosen  —  hingegossen,  I,  28 ;  angepaszt  — graszt, 
I,  188.  The  spelling  graszt  for  grast  is  obviously 
employed  for  the  perfecting  of  the  rime,  but  the 

1  J.  G.  H.  Webers  Deutsche  Sprachkunst,  Frankfurt  a/M,   1759. 
Die  Metrik  S chillers,  S.  87,  Breslau,  1883. 

62 


CONSONANTS 

exchange  of  sz  for  s  indicates  that  Schiller  saw  no 
reason  why  this  might  not  be  done  at  will.     Eisen 

—  heiszen,  I,  192;  Loose  —  Stosze,  I,  193;  preiszt 

—  Geist,  I,  219.  The  spelling  preiszt  is  quite  sur- 
prising, creating  an  imperfection  where  there  might 
have  been  a  pure  rime  by  merely  following  the 
common  spelling.  This  adds  evidence  to  the  fact 
that  Schiller  recognized  no  difference  between  s  and 
sz.  Gieszen  —  gepriesen,  I,  222 ;  Schoose^  —  Mor- 
genrose,  I,  228;  gesessen  —  geweseri,  I,  250;  Tar- 
tarus—  Morgengrusz,  I,  251,  256;  musz  —  Zer- 
berus,  I,  252;  Fusz  —  Spiritus,  I,  257;  Lose  — 
Grose,  I,  259.  This  is  evidently  an  attempt  at  a 
pure  rime  and  seems  to  show  better  than  any  pre- 
ceding case  the  close  approach  of  Swabian  s  and  sz 
to  each  other,  siisen  —  Kiissen,  I,  283  ;  siisze  — 
Kiisse,  I,  294;  Grose  —  Getose,  I,  359.  This  last 
rime  again  furnishes  an  excellent  specimen  of  the 
close  approach  of  Swabian  s  and  sz  to  each  other. 

Second  period :  Bosen  —  entbloszen,  IV,  28 ;  Rie- 
sen  —  flieszen,  VI,  5  ;  heiszen  —  speisen,  VI,  30 ; 
entreissen  —  Mordereisen,  VI,  352,  361,  363;  Er- 
dengrosze  —  Getose,  XI,  16. 

Third  period:  los  —  Rosz,  XI,  236,  352;  Loose 

—  Schoose,  XI,  262;  Blosze  —  Gekrose,  XI,  281; 
begriiszte  —  Kiiste,  XI,  292 ;  Zeitenschoosze  — 
Loose,  XI,  307  ;  verschlosz  —  los,  XI,  344;  Karten- 
schlosz  —  losz,  XI,  379;  entbloszet  —  erloset,  XI, 
384;  groszen  —  Loosen,  XI,  393. 

When  we  examine  closely  the  s :  ss :  sz  rimes 
used  by  Schiller,  bear  in  mind  the  general  Swabian 

1  Schoose  (Schosze).  Diflferent  editions  show  different  spell- 
ings. In  1803  Schoosse,  1805  Schoosze,  1814  Schosze.  The 
single  .y  and  single  o  are  in  the  minority,  each  occurring  only 
once  in  these  four  variations. 

63 


THE  RIME  IN  SCHILLER'S  POEMS 

tendency  of  lengthening  stressed  vowels,  and  re- 
member what  Weinhold  says:  "Nach  Langen  neigt 
sidi  die  heutige  Mundart  zur  Sibilierung  der  aspi- 
rierten  Muta," — then  we  are  quite  safe  in  asserting 
that  all  data  seem  to  establish  the  fact  that  Schiller 
used  s,  ss,  sz  interchangeably,  and  that  he,  due  to 
Swabian  influences,  was  quite  unaware  of  any  ex- 
isting distinction  between  them. 


64 


VI 
DOUBLY  IMPURE  RIMES 

There  is  really  no  reason  for  entering  into  a 
discussion  on  the  following  rimes  as  a  whole,  though 
the  most  striking  features  will  be  dwelt  upon  later. 
The  imperfections  occurring  have  been  discussed  in 
previous  chapters.  We  find  nothing  new  here,  ex- 
cept the  fact  that  in  each  one  of  these  rimes  two 
or  more  irregularities  occur,  which  fact  makes  a 
detailed  classification  impossible.  Therefore  they 
are  grouped  as  doubly  impure,  i.  e.,  defective  in 
vowel  as  well  as  consonant  combination.  For  ex- 
ample :  Sprode  —  Wette.  We  notice  first  the  un- 
natural coupling  of  the  umlaut  vowel  o  with  e,  then 
the  long  vowel  with  the  short  one,  and  finally  the 
voiced  consonant  d  with  voiceless  /. 

In  this  manner  we  might  analyze  each  rime  and 
point  out  its  irregularities;  but  as  is  apparent  from 
this  example,  all  these  points  oi  variance  in  quantity 
and  quality  come  under  the  scope  of  previously  dis- 
cussed rimes. 

What  I  wish  to  emphasize  before  giving  the 
entire  list  in  chronological  order,  refers  to  the  d:  t 
final  rime,  listed  here.  If  the  d :  t  had  been  the 
only  irregularity  in  these  rimes,  they  would  properly 
have  found  place  in  that  group  and  would  have  been 
classed  as  acceptable.  Or,  if  the  d :  t  final  in  these 
cases  had  simply  been  passed  over  as  good  rime,  then 
all  of  these  combinations  would  have  been  placed 
in  their  respective  groups  with  merely  vowel  im- 

3  65 


THE  RIME  IN  SCHILLER'S  POEMS 

perfections.  I  call  special  attention  to  this,  for  one 
who  reads  the  d  :  t  final  as  phonetically  pure  might 
classify  those  rimes  marked  with  an  asterisk  (*)  as 
vowel  impurities  only,  and. would  be  perfectly  justi- 
fied in  doing  so;  though  I  prefer  to  classify  them 
as  double  impurities,  suggested  by  the  orthography. 
First  period;  empfinden  —  konnten,  I,  48;  Wie- 
sen  —  kiissen,  I,  107;  zitterten  —  Liebenden,  I, 
129;  Gefilde —  briillte,  I,  131;  Bliithen  —  hienie- 
den,  I,  179;  Mutter  —  Bruder,  I,  178;  umgriff  — 
entschlief,  I,  190;  Schlosser  —  Schoppenglaser,  1, 
213;  Felsen  —  walzen,  I,  217;  *Schwanenkleid  — 
eingestreut,  I,  227;  *brennt  —  Flammenwind,  I, 
224;  *Lied  —  mit,  I,  187;  Erdenriesen  —  miissen, 
I,  230;  Gegeissel  —  Gesausel,  I,  237;  HoUengottin 

—  batten,  I,  246;  Gefahrte  —  werde,  I,  250;  Pyra- 
miden  —  Zefyrtritten,  *brennt  —  Kind,  I,  259  ;  Va- 
ter  —  Katheder,  Spasze  —  Gelese,  I,  261;  Freuden 

—  Zartlichkeiten,  I,  262  ;  Sinnesfreuden  —  Herr- 
lichkeiten,  I,  264;  *Lied  —  gliiht,  I,  304;  *mahnt 

—  erfand,  I,  344;  Paradies  —  gewisz,  I,  347; 
Sprode— Wette,  I,  352;  *Regiment — sind,  I,  354; 
Schuldigkeiten  —  Freuden,  III,  165;  Spotterin  — 
Schiilerin,  IV,  10;  vergessen  —  gewesen,  IV,  14; 
*Tod  —  Gott,  IV,  2. 

Second  period :  *Lied  —  gliiht,  VI,  7  ;  *erfullt  — 
Bild,  VI,  20;  *geweint  —  Freund,  VI,  22;  Hasen 

—  lassen,  VI,  28;  hielten  —  Wilden,  VI,  268; 
*Bild  —  erfiillt,  VI,  272,  374,  388;  *Geisterbild — 
gehiillt,  VI,  359;  tragi  —  reckt,  VI,  394.  Doubt- 
less this  rime  shows  us  in  the  clearest  possible  man- 
ner the  Swabian  pronunciation  of  gt.  The  fact 
that  it  is  rimed  with  ckt  indicates  that  g  and  k  are 
phonetic  equivalents.     For  the  ck  is  nothing  more 

66 


DOUBLY  IMPURE  RIMES 

than  a  double  k,  which  merely  shortens  the  preced- 
ing vowel,  while  the  value  of  k  itself  remains  un- 
changed. *geweint  —  Freund,  XI,  4;  *Freund  — 
scheint,  XI,  13. 

Third  period:  *Freund  —  scheint,  XI,  210,  285; 
*verhullt  —  Frauenbild,  XI,  217  ;  *Wild  —  erfiillt, 
XI,  235;  *vereint  —  Gotterfreund,  XI,  240;  *ver- 
hiillt  —  Gotterbild,  XI,  294,  316;  Artemis  —  Ja- 
gerspiesz,  XI,  297 ;  *gefallt  —  Held,  XI,  323 ; 
*Gott  —  Tod,  XI,  344;  Wesen  —  Erdengroszen, 
^I)  395  J  gezeugt  —  vergleicht,  XI,  352.  From  this 
rime  it  appears  that  Schiller  had  no  definite  rule  for 
the  pronunciation  of  g,  for  in  this  combination  it 
is  evidently  soft  to  rime  with  ch,  while  in  the  above 
(tragt  —  reckt)  rime  the  g  is  hard.  It  will  be 
noticed  that  in  both  rimes  the  final  consonant  is  t^ 
following  immediately  the  riming  consonants. 

In  chapter  V,  2,  we  find  that  Schiller  regularly 
rimed  g  with  k  during  the  first  period,  in  the  second 
period  it  disappeared,  recurring  in  only  one  combi- 
nation during  the  third  period.  Now,  the  soft  g  in 
rime  with  ch  is  found  only  in  the  last  period,  which 
would  indicate  that  the  hard  g  in  rime  with  k  is 
Swabian,  but  that  the  soft  g  in  rime  with  ch  was 
employed  later,  due  to  northern  Influence.  It  is 
for  this  reason,  undoubtedly,  that  Schiller  employs 
both,  the  g  :  k  and  the  g  :  ch  types. 

If  we  combine  the  g  :  k  rime  in  chapter  V,  2, 
with  those  of  the  same  type  found  in  chapter  VI, 
the  result  is  as  follows: 

The  g  :  k  rime  is  found  nine  times  in  the  first 
period,  once  in  the  second,  and  twice  in  the  third. 

The  g  :  ch  type,  probably  due  to  northern  in- 
fluence, occurs  only  once  in  the  third  period. 

67 


VII 
FULL  RIMES  (Reiche  Reime) 

These  rimes  are  formed  by  the  recurrence  of  the 
same  word,  as:  Gefiihl  —  Gefiihl,  I,  27;  Gott  — 
Gott,  I,  278,  etc.  Since  these  rimes  are  formed  by 
mere  repetition  of  the  same  word,  I  give  the  word 
constituting  each  rime  only  once. 

First  period:  Gesang,  Harfe,  I,  29;  erscheinen, 
I,  46 ;  Jungen,  gereift,  I,  107 ;  Hiigel,  I,  108 ; 
Faden,  klirren,  I,  235 ;  Liebe,  I,  236,  238,  238,  242, 
242 ;  Trazier,  I,  241  ;  enge,  I,  267 ;  Romersmann,  I, 
269 ;  Madchen,  I,  272 ;  schauen,  I,  275 ;  schelten, 
I,  280;  Dir,  I,  289,  292;  kleinen,  I,  292;  Schande, 
I,  301 ;  nicht,  I,  302 ;  IV,  25 ;  schlug,  I,  308 ;  Kusz, 
I,  310;  Sohn,  I,  347;  todt,  Mann,  I,  357;  nie,  III, 
168;  Blick,  III,  170;  ab.  III,  172;  Seele,  IV,  6; 
Armen,  IV,   13;  Lebens,  IV,  20. 

Second  period:  Herzen,  fliegen,  IV,  28;  an, 
VI,  9;  Heroen,  VI,  22;  XI,  4;  sie,  VI,  32; 
Stufe,  VI,  267;  Natur,  VI,  276;  Schone,  VI,  278; 
Strahlen,  VI,  279;  Schatten,  VI,  385;  gabst,  VI, 
429 ;  macht  —  Obermacht,  IV, "  1 1 1 ;  nicht,  XI,  9 ; 
ein,  XI,  II ;  Mann,  XI,  31. 

Third  period:  gesehn,  XI,  188;  Schwesterliebe  — 
Liebe,  XI,  236;  entfahren  —  befahren,  XI,  250; 
zerrinnt  —  entrinnt,  XI,  286 ;  geboren  —  ungebo- 
ren,  auf,  XI,  301 ;  Zeit,  XI,  232. 

The  frequent  use  of  the  full  rime  indicates  one 
68 


FULL  RIMES 

of  two  things,  either  the  rime  poverty  of  the  lan- 
guage or  the  poet's  desire  to  add  force  to  the  rime. 

The  full  rime  occurs  sixty-one  times  in  Schiller's 
poems,  which  is  after  all  quite  frequent  when  one 
bears  in  mind  the  fact  that  it  requires  no  poetic 
skill  to  form  this  rime,  since  it  is  simply  the  repe- 
tition of   a  word   once  used. 

Now,  if  Schiller  employed  this  method  of  repe- 
tition because  of  the  lack  of  proper  rimes,  we  take 
for  granted  that  he  would  have  been  glad  to  use 
a  real  rime  in  each  one  of  these  instances,  but  for 
want  of  a  better  term  to  express  what  he  had  in 
mind,  he  was  compelled  to  make  use  of  the  full  rime. 

From  a  comparison  of  the  figures  representing 
the  number  of  occurrences  in  each  period  (38,  16,  7) 
we  see  that  Schiller  very  effectively  overcame  this 
difficulty  in  the  course  of  his  development. 

If  we  ascribe  the  frequent  occurrence  of  the  full 
rime  to  Schiller's  desire  to  add  force  to  the  rime, 
we  may  meet  with  the  objection  that  the  poet 
surely  did  not  desire  to  write  with  less  force  in 
later  life  than  in  his  youth,  as  a  comparison  be- 
tween the  representative  figures  would  indicate. 
To  such  objection  it  is  only  fair  to  reply  that 
Schiller  was  quite  impetuous  and  uncontrollable  in 
his  youth,  and  in  his  lack  of  experience  was  easily 
led  to  a  frequent  use  of  the  full  rime  in  his  desire 
to  attach  particular  emphasis  to  some  point  or  pas- 
sage. But  with  his  increasing  development  in  suc- 
ceeding years  he  seemed  to  realize  more  fully  his 
ideal  of  good  rime,  which  he  expressed  in  his  letter 
to  Korner  on  this  subject.  According  to  this  ideal 
no  rime  should  in  itself  seem  striking,  but  rather 
unassuming,    yet    as    if    especially    called    into    this 

69 


THE  RIME  IN  SCHILLER'S  POEMS 

particular  connection.  To  put  into  practice  this 
governing  principle  was  to  check  the  frequent  use 
of  the  full  rime.  With  his  increasing  development 
and  self-reliance  Schiller  must  have  felt  that  the 
full  rime  added  only  artificial  force,  which  could 
well  be  dispensed  with,  for  it  was  rather  an  indi- 
cation of  weakness  than  strength. 


70 


VIII 

THE  WANING  OF  SWABIAN  IN- 
FLUENCE 

We  have  seen  in  the  preceding  chapters  that  the 
frequent  use  of  impure  rimes  is  largely  to  be  at- 
tributed to  Swabian  influences  and  somewhat  to 
rime-poverty.  Just  to  what  extent  the  latter  was 
a  determining  factor  in  the  use  of  imperfect  rimes, 
can  perhaps  not  be  ascertained  with  any  degree  of 
certainty. 

In  order  to  show  more  clearly  the  actual  condi- 
tions and  Schiller's  endeavor  to  improve  his  rime, 
the  table  on  the  following  page  will  be  helpful. 
Let  us  consider  each  group  of  types,  as  there  in- 
dicated, by  itself. 

I.  The  first  group,  consisting  of  pure  vowel  rimes, 
embraces  the  first  seven  combinations.  These  rimes 
occur  150  times;  68  of  them  are  found  in  the  first 
period,  41  in  the  second,  and  41  in  the  third.  We 
see  at  once  that  there  was  a  very  decided  improve- 
ment in  the  second  period  (represented  by  the  dif- 
ference between  the  figures  68  and  41),  whereas 
the  third  period  shows  as  many  imperfections  as  the 
second,  which  means  in  reality  a  slight  improve- 
ment even  in  the  third  period,  for  it  contains  a 
larger  total  of  rimes  than  the  second  period. 

It  must  be  borne  in  mind  throughout  the  entire 
discussion  that  each  group  (indicated  in  the  left- 
hand  column  on  page  72)  represents  only  one  gen- 
71 


TYPES 

FIRST 
PERIOD 

SECOND 
PERIOD 

THIRD 
PERIOD 

TOTAL 

Totals  b 

i:  a 

i6 

21 

17 

54 

6  :e 

2 

2 

I 

5 

i:I 

12 

6 

6 

24 

5j 

6:0 

5 

7 

10 

22 

fS 

u:u 

3 

4 

6 

13 

e  :i 

i6 

I 

I 

18 

^  Periods 

o  :u 

14 

FIRST 
PERIOD 

SECOND 
PERIOD 

THIRD 
PERIOD 

TOTAL 

1 

a:i 

15 

I 

16 

68 

41 

41 

150 

6:e 

37 

33 

30 

100 

■§ 

6  :  i 

5 

5 

1 

a 

u:e 

6 

6 

s 

u:i 

i6o 

139 

124 

423 

(ft 

a:6 

II 

4 

5 

20 

223 

173 

154 

550 

^ 

a:u 

2 

I 

3 

ai  :  eu 

I 

I 

2 

13 

5 

5 

23 

1 

ai :  au 

I 

I 

5 

ei  :  eu 

45 

54 

54 

153 

ei  :  au 

12 

9 

15 

36 

^ 

d:t  Med. 

28 

6 

5 

39 

59 

63 

70 

192 

S 

d :  t  Fin. 

31 

24 

27 

82 

c 

6 

g:k 

9 

2 

II 

s : ss  :  sz 

17 

7 

10 

34 

Doubly 
Impure 

31 

12 

12 

55 

85 

37 

44 

166 

479 

331 

326 

1 136 

72 


WANING  OF  SWABIAN  INFLUENCE 

eral  type  of  imperfections.  The  group  under  our 
present  consideration  consists  only  of  rimes  between 
pure  guttural  vowels,  as  a,  o,  u,  e,  i. 

When  we  notice  that  the  o  ;  u  rime  occurs  four- 
teen times  in  the  first  period,  but  is  dropped  en- 
tirely from  the  remaining  two;  and  also  that  the 
e  :  i  rime  disappears  almost  entirely  after  the  first 
period  (it  occurs  sixteen  times  in  the  first,  once  in 
the  second,  and  once  in  the  third),  then  we  grant 
that  Schiller  must  have  recognized  early  that  rimes 
between  entirely  different  pure  vowels,  as  e,  i,  o,  u, 
were  not  good. 

The  remaining  five  types  in  this  group  are  not 
rimes  between  different  vowels,  but  merely  between 
long  and  short  vowels  of  essentially  the  same  quality. 

The  i:  i  combination  decreases  in  frequency  of 
occurrence  from  twelve  in  the  first  column  to  six 
in  the  second,  where  it  remains  in  the  third.  This 
leads  us  to  believe  that  Schiller  early  recognized  it 
as  an  undesirable  rime,  and  therefore  checked  its 
repetition  in  the  second  period  to  just  one-half  the 
number  in  the  first  period.  The  fact  that  he  did 
not  continue  to  reject  it  at  the  same  rate  in  the 
third  period,  by  no  means  indicates  a  change  in 
the  poet's  attitude,  for  he  would  not  now  cling 
to  a  strongly  Swabian  characteristic  which  he  re- 
jected in  the  preceding  period.  We  can  give  no 
other  reason  for  its  remaining  constant  in  the  sec- 
ond and  third  periods  than  rime-poverty  and  Schil- 
ler's refusal  to  sacrifice  the  sense  for  the  sake  of 
rime. 

The  e:  e  rime  is  quite  infrequent,  occurring  only 
twice  in  each  of  the  first  two  periods  and  once  in 
the  last. 

73 


THE  RIME  IN  SCHILLER'S  POEMS 

Three  of  the  seven  types  show  an  increase  after 
the  first  period.  These  are  the  open  vowels  a,  o,  u, 
which  are  more  susceptible  to  the  Swabian  length- 
ening than  e  and  i  are ;  therefore  they  become  even 
more  frequent  in  the  second  and  third  periods  (the 
fact  that  a:  a  drops  from  twenty-one  in  the  second 
period  to  seventeen  in  the  third  is  merely  accidental, 
and  a  comparison  between  the  third  and  first  periods 
shows  even  then  an  increase)  ;  for  Schiller  was  less 
able  to  detect  that  he  himself  was  habitually  length- 
ening short  a,  o,  u,  and  he  failed  to  notice  any  strik- 
ing difference  between  his  own  pronunciation  and 
that  of  others. 

We  see,  then,  that  the  more  decidedly  dialectic 
types :  e:  i  and  i :  i,  begin  to  decrease  in  frequency 
at  the  end  of  the  first  period,  while  the  o  :  u  form 
is  discontinued  entirely. 

On  the  whole  we  are  convinced  of  a  growing 
improvement  of  rimes  in  the  pure-vowel  group. 
Though  this  may  not  be  perfectly  apparent  from  a 
comparison  between  forty-one  occurrences  of  im- 
pure rime  in  the  second  period  and  the  same  num- 
ber in  the  third,  yet,  when  we  remember  that  2,277 
rimes  were  written  in  the  third  period,  but  only 
2,120  in  the  second,  then  the  improvement  is  ap- 
parent even  there,  though  it  is  greatest  between  the 
first  and  second  periods.  The  actual  percentage  of 
impure  rime  on  the  ^entire  number  written  in  each 
period  respectively  is  as  follows:  In  the  first  period, 
.03%  of  all  rimes  are  impure;  in  the  second  pe- 
riod, .021%;  and  in  the  third,  .019%.  (Fractions 
are  not  carried  out  in  these  calculations.  Where 
the  fraction  is  less  than  a  half  it  is  dropped;  if 
more,  it  is  counted  as  one.) 
74 


WANING  OF  SWABIAN  INFLUENCE 

2.  The  second  group,  containing  the  umlaut  and 
vowel  types,  shows  a  larger  number  of  rimes  than 
any  of  the  other  groups:  a  total  of  550;  223  of 
these  occur  in  the  first,  173  in  the  second,  and 
154  in  the   third   period. 

The  0  ;  i  type  occurs  five  times,  but  only  in  the 
first  period.  The  ii :  e  type  occurs  six  times,  but 
also  only  in  the  first  period.  The  a  :  i  combination 
is  found  fifteen  times  in  the  first  column  and  once 
in  the  second.  These  three  types  aggregate  twenty- 
seven  cases  in  all.  Their  entire  absence  in  the  third 
period,  with  but  one  occurrence  in  the  second,  is 
sufficient  evidence  of  Schiller's  early  efiEort  to  avoid 
these  three  combinations  especially. 

Of  the  remaining  two  types,  the  6:  e  is  quite 
popular  with  Schiller.  Though  there  is  no  increase 
after  the  first  period,  the  decrease  is  very  slight,  as 
appears  from  comparison.  The  numbers  are  37, 
33,  and  30.  This  rime  is  a  Swabian  characteristic, 
but  even  in  Middle  Germany  it  would  be  less  no- 
ticed than  the  a  :  i,  6  :  i,  and  ii  :  e  types.  In  the 
every-day  language  of  even  the  middle  class  and 
fairly  cultured  people  in  Silesia  and  Saxony  the  0 
and  ii  are  pronounced  unrounded.  Since  Schiller 
came  chiefly  under  the  influence  of  the  Saxon  and 
the  closely  allied  Thiiringian  dialects,  the  corrective 
influence  on  these  points  can  have  been  but  slight. 

The  fact  that  the  0  ;  e  type  decreases  so  little 
from  the  first  to  the  second  period,  and  that  almost 
the  same  relation  prevails  between  the  second  and 
third,  indicates  that  Schiller  never  became  sufficiently 
convinced  of  its  impurity  to  check  its  frequent  recur- 
rence. It  is  also  possible  that  he  may  have  been 
influenced  to  continue  the  use  of  less  objectionable 
75 


THE  RIME  IN  SCHILLER'S  POEMS 

rimes,  like  this  one,  by  the  fact  that  five  of  his  first 
rime-schemes  have  at  this  time  already  been  aban- 
doned, leaving  him  the  less  to  choose  from.  To 
make  up  for  this  loss,  he  might  naturally  have  used 
more  frequently  than  he  otherwise  would  have  those 
combinations  which  he  considered  permissible. 

Rime  poverty  may  also  have  played  a  very  de- 
cisive part  at  this  point. 

The  rime  most  popular  with  Schiller,  of  those 
under  our  consideration,  is  the  ii :  i  type.  It  is 
found  1 60  times  in  the  first  period,  decreasing  to 
139  in  the  second,  and  to  124  in  the  third,  giv- 
ing a  total  of  423.  It  is  the  most  natural  com- 
bination the  Swabian  can  use,  for  to  him  ii  is  pho- 
netically equivalent  to  i,  and  he  always  pronounces 
it  so.  The  North  German  ii  is  practically  unknown 
to  the  Swabian.  Though  Schiller  evidently  made 
some  effort  to  restrict  its  use,  he  was  apparently 
not  aware  of  any  striking  incongruity  in  the  ii  :  i 
combination.  As  in  the  case  of  the  unrounding  of 
6,  it  must  be  borne  in  mind  that  in  Middle  Ger- 
many the  ii  is  pronounced  unrounded  by  the  great 
mass  of  people. 

If  Schiller  had  overcome  this  anomaly,  we  could 
safely  maintain  that  the  last  remnant  of  Swabian 
influence  had  disappeared. 

3.  The  type  in  which  both  members  of  the  rime 
are  umlauts  occurs  only  twenty-three  times  in  Schil- 
ler's poems:  thirteen  times  in  the  first,  and  five  times 
in  each  of  the  succeeding  periods.  The  ii :  ii  is 
quite  insignificant,  occurring  only  three  times  and 
disappearing  entirely  in  the  third  period. 

The  d  :  0  rime  is  found  eleven  times  in  the  first 
period,  but  drops  to  four  occurrences  in  the  second 

76 


WANING  OF  SWABIAN  INFLUENCE 

and  five  in  the  third  period,  which  indicates  that 
Schiller  soon  discovered  that  it  was  strongly  dia- 
lectic, and  therefore  objectionable.  Its  decrease  in 
the  second  period  to  almost  one-third  the  number 
of  occurrences  in  the  first  period  speaks  well  for 
Schiller's  improvement  of  the  rime,  while  the  five 
occurrences  in  the  third  period  must  be  purely  ac- 
cidental. 

4.  In  the  diphthong  group  we  have  four  different 
types.  The  ai :  eu  rime  is  found  only  once  in  the 
first  and  once  in  the  third  period,  while  the  ai :  du 
combination  occurs  once  only  in  the  first.  These 
two  need  therefore  no  particular  consideration. 

The  ei :  eu  rime  is  quite  popular  with  Schiller. 
In  frequency  of  occurrence  it  stands  next  to  the  u  :  i 
type.  The  fact  that  it  is  the  leading  one  of  the 
only  four  types  of  impure  rimes  to  maintain  a  steady 
increase  to  the  end,  clearly  indicates  that  Schiller 
finds  nothing  objectionable  in  this  rime.  To  the 
Swabian  its  terms  are  phonetically  indentical.  He 
always  says:  eich  for  euch,  nei  for  neuj  etc. 

Of  this  type  it  may  be  said,  as  of  the  ii  :  i  type, 
that  it  is  a  deeply  rooted  Swabian  characteristic, 
and  Schiller  never  discovered  any  material  difference 
between  the  phonetic  value  of  ei  and  eu. 

The  same  is  true  with  regard  to  the  ei :  du  type, 
for  in  the  High  German  it  is  phonetically  equiva- 
lent to  ei :  eu;  i.  e.,  eu  and  du  are  merely  ortho- 
graphic differences  of  phonetic  equivalents.  The 
rendering  du  of  the  respective  diphthong  is  compara- 
tively rare,  found  mostly  in  plurals  of  nouns  or  in 
derivative  forms.  That  is  the  real  reason  why  such 
combinations  are  quite  infrequent  in  Schiller's  rimes. 
The  fact  that  there  is  a  slight  decrease  of  the  ei :  du 
77 


THE  RIME  IN  SCHILLER'S  POEMS 

type  from  twelve  to  nine  in  the  second  period  is 
merely  accidental,  and  is  in  reality  still  smaller 
when  we  remember  that  the  total  number  of  rimes 
in  the  second  period  is  less  by  185  than  in  the  first 
period.  The  fifteen  occurrences  in  the  third  period 
at  once  prove  the  poet's  tendency  to  increase  the 
frequency  of  this  rime. 

It  is  safe  to  maintain  that  in  the  entire  group 
of  diphthongs  Schiller  recognized  only  the  ei:  ei 
( North  German  ei :  eu )  rime,  though  he  employed 
the  commonly  accepted  orthography.  The  use  of 
the  general  type  in  this  group  is  the  only  one  to  in- 
crease steadily,  in  spite  of  the  entire  loss  of  two 
of  the  variations,  from  fifty-nine  in  the  first  to  sixty- 
three  in  the  second,  and  even  seventy  in  the  third 
period,  because  the  influence  of  Saxon  and  Thiirin- 
gian  pronunciation  was  not  strong  enough  to  make 
Schiller  aware  of  any  unpardonable  impurity. 

5.  In  the  consonant  group,  the  d :  t  combination 
is  by  far  the  most  common,  occurring  121  times. 
But  this  consists  of  two  different  types :  the  d  :  t 
medial  and  d  :  t  final. 

The  medial  rime,  as  we  recall  from  page  59, 
was  not  considered  good  by  Schiller,  for,  though  it 
is  found  twenty-eight  times  in  the  first  period,  it 
recurs  only  six  times  in  the  second,  and  five  times 
in  the  third,  which  seems  to  stamp  Schiller's  dis- 
approval upon  it. 

But  the  d  :  t  final,  which  may  be  considered  a 
good  rime  in  the  North  German  also,  since  d,  like  b 
and  g,  becomes  voiceless  in  final  position,  occurs 
much  more  frequently.  Although  it  decreases  from 
thirty-one  cases  in  the  first,  to  twenty- four  in  the 
second  period,  it  slightly  rises  again  to  twenty-seven 

78 


WANING  OF  SWABIAN  INFLUENCE 

in  the  third.  This  calculation  proves  constancy  in 
the  use  of  this  rime  for  the  second  and  third  periods. 

Though  the  d :  t  rime  of  both  types  combined 
shows  a  decided  decrease  in  the  second  period  from 
fifty-nine  to  thirty,  we  see  at  a  glance  that  a  de- 
crease of  only  seven  falls  to  the  d  :  t  final  type,  while 
the  large  decrease  from  twenty-eight  to  six  is  found 
in  the  d:  t  medial  type.  This  difiEerence  continues  to 
increase  in  the  third  period,  where  the  final  occurs 
twenty-seven  times,  but  the  medial  only  five  times. 
From  these  facts  it  is  especially  apparent  that  Schil- 
ler is  breaking  away  from  Swabian  influence  and 
is  adopting  that  which  the  general  Schriftsprache  ac- 
cepts. 

The  g  :  k  rime  is  Swabian,  but  not  limited  to 
that  province  alone.  Whatever  the  determining  in- 
fluence may  have  been,  Schiller  prefers  to  reduce  its 
frequency  from  nine  cases  in  the  first  period  to  two 
in  the  last.     It  is  not  found  in  the  second  period. 

The  s :  ss  :  sz  rime  also  becomes  less  frequent 
after  the  first  period.  This  decrease  is  especially 
marked  between  the  first  and  second  period.  The 
increase  in  the  third  period  is  in  reality  smaller  than 
it  appears  in  the  table,  for  by  actual  calculation  we 
find  that  in  the  second  period  .0033%  constitutes 
the  percentage  of  impure  rimes  of  this  type,  while 
.004%  represents  that  of  the  third  period. 

The  s  :  ss  :  sz  combination  is  found  as  often  in 
the  first  period  as  in  the  others  combined.  Though 
it  is  strongly  dialectic,  it  is  not  limited  to  Swabia. 
From  the  decrease  after  the  first  period  it  seems 
apparent  that  Schiller's  attention  was  called  to  the 
imperfection  of  such  combinations.  But  since  it 
was  so  perfectly  natural  for  the  Swabian,  and  since 
79 


THE  RIME  IN  SCHILLER'S  POEMS 

Schiller  seems  not  to  have  been  able  to  distinguish 
clearly  between  the  voiced  and  voiceless  sibilant 
(which  we  may  safely  infer  from  his  peculiar  or- 
thography in  some  of  these  rimes,  undoubtedly  cor- 
responding to  his  natural  pronunciation),  he  con- 
tinues to  use  this  rime-scheme  throughout,  with  even 
a  slight  increase  in  the  third  period. 

Concerning  the  nondistinction  of  voiced  and 
voiceless  s,  Victor  (p.  200)  says  the  following:  "Die 
Unterscheidung  des  stimmhaften  von  dem  stimm- 
losen  Laute  ist  in  Mittel-  und  Siiddeutschland  un- 
bekannt ;  f iir  z  und  s  steht  stimmloses,  aber  vielf ach 
schwaches  s,  das  zwischen  Stimmhaften  allerdings 
meist  in  z  iibergeht :  reisen  und  reissen  beide  — 
raisen,  raizen,  etc.  Die  Gegeniiberstellung  von 
stimmhaftem  z  und  stimmlosem  s  nach  nord- 
deutscher  Art  ist  von  der  mustergiiltigen  Sprache 
der  Biihne  etc.  anerkannt  und  dringt  immer  weiter 
vor,  so  entschieden  auch  noch  von  mittel-  und 
siiddeutscher  Seite  gelegentlich  dagegen  opponiert 
wird." 

On  the  whole,  the  different  consonants  in  rime 
combinations  occur  as  follows:  In  the  first  period, 
eighty-five  times;  in  the  second,  thirty-seven  times; 
and  in  the  third,  forty- four  times.  The  d  :  t  medial 
type,  as  the  most  objectionable  also  to  the  North 
German,  is  the  only  one  to  decrease  in  frequency  of 
occurrence  in  the  third  period.  The  fact  that  all 
other  combinations  {d  :  t  final,  g  :  k,  and  s  :  ss  :  sz) 
do  not  decrease  in  the  last  period,  seems  evidence 
that  Schiller  was  not  sufficiently  convinced  of  their 
imperfection  to  check  their  frequent  occurrence.  Or 
it  may  have  been  absolute  lack  of  better  terms  to 
express  his  ideas.  At  any  rate,  whatever  may  have 
80 


WANING  OF  SWABIAN  INFLUENCE 

been  the  cause  for  using  these  combinations,  we  can- 
not raise  serious  objection  to  any  of  them  except 
the  j- ;  ss  :  sz  type  as  strongly  Swabian.  For  the 
d  :  t  final  type,  as  we  have  seen,  is  quite  acceptable 
to  the  Schriftsprache,  while  the  g  :  k  type  is  con- 
sidered phonetically  pure  in  many  communities  of 
the  North. 

6.  The  fact  that  the  doubly  impure  rimes  occur 
less  than  one-half  as  often  in  the  second  period  as 
in  the  first,  and  even  decrease  in  the  third  period 
(though  the  table  shows  constancy),  is  a  fair  indi- 
cation that  .they  came  to  Schiller's  notice  as  well 
as  other  imperfections.  It  is  but  natural  that  they 
should,  for  the  same  irregularities  that  he  discov- 
ered in  other  rimes  he  found  accentuated  here.  It 
is  therefore  a  decided  step  toward  advancement 
when  he  reduces  the  frequency  of  this  rime  from 
thirty-one  to  twelve  cases. 

Some  points  of  interest  can  be  set  forth  best 
in  tabulated  form  as  follows: 

a)  A  comparison  between  the  first  and  second 
period. 

There  are  23  types  of  impure  rimes,  and  all  are 
represented  in  the  first  period. 

6  types  are  discontinued  in  the  second  period. 
12  types  decrease  in  frequency  in  the  second  pe- 
riod. 
I   type  remains  constant,  which  actually  repre- 
sents a  small  pro  rata  increase. 
4  types  increase  in  frequency  in  the  second  pe- 
riod. 


81 


THE  RIME  IN  SCHILLER'S  POEMS 

The  increase  is  distributed  as  follows: 
The   pure- vowel   types   (a:  a,   o:  6,   u:  u)  8  cases. 
Diphthong  type,  strongly  Swabian  (ei :  eu)  9  cases. 

The  use  of  impure  rime  in  general  is  decreased 
in  the  second  period  by  a  total  of  148  occurrences. 

None  of  the  above  figures  take  into  account  the 
fact  that  nearly  two  hundred  more  rimes  were  writ- 
ten in  the  first  period  than  in  the  second.  They 
merely  indicate  the  number  of  impure  rimes  written 
during  the  time  known  as  the  first  and  second  pe- 
riod. When  this  fact  is  taken  into  account,  then 
all  types  which  increase  in  the  second  period  repre- 
sent a  relatively  larger  increase  than  here  indicated. 
Where  the  numbers  are  constant,  a  relative  increase 
is  also  to  be  understood.  Where  there  is  a  decrease, 
it  may  not  be  a  decrease  in  reality,  unless  it  is  large 
enough; 'for  all  cases  of  decrease  in  the  second  pe- 
riod  are   relatively   smaller   than   the   table   shows. 

In  this  connection  it  may  be  sufficient  to  say  that 
no  decrease  in  the  comparison  between  the  first  two 
periods  is  small  enough  to  reverse  it  into  an  increase. 
Even  the  figures  in  the  0  ;  e  rime — 37,  33,  and  30 — 
signify  a  real  decrease  of  impure  rimes.  In  the  first 
period  .016%  represents  the  0  ;  e  rime,  and  in  the 
second  period  .0155%. 

b)  A  comparison  between  the  second  and  third 
period  shows  the  following  facts: 

4  types  do  not  occur  in  either  of  these  periods. 

2  additional  types  are  discontinued  in  the  third 

period. 

5  types  decrease  in  the  third  period. 

3  types  remain  constant. 

6  types  increase  in  the  third  period,  while 

82 


WANING  OF  SWABIAN  INFLUENCE 

2  types  are  re-introduced,  as  follows: 

m  :  euj  merely  an  orthographic  variation 

of  the  general  Swabian  ei=eu  type ...    i   case 

ff :  k,    which    is    not    at    all    limited    to 

Swabia,  and  is  quite  acceptable 2  cases 

The  6  types  showing  increase  are  distributed  as 
follows : 

Pure  vowels  (6:  6,  u:u) 5  cases 

Umlauts  (a  :  6)   i  case 

Diphthongs  (ei:  du)    6  cases 

Consonants  (d :  t  final;  s,  ss^  sz) 6  cases 

From  the  figures  in  our  table  it  appears  that  the 
use  of  impure  rime  in  general  decreases  but  slightly 
in  the  third  period.  We  must,  however,  bear  in 
mind  that  the  second  period  represents  2,120  rimes, 
while  the  third  shows  a  total  of  2,277.  Where  a 
smaller  number  of  impure  rimes  is  found  in  the 
third  period  than  in  the  second,  improvement  is 
apparent,  since  the  number  of  rimes  in  the  third 
period  is  in  itself  larger. 

c)  Since  the  first  and  third  periods  represent 
the  two  extremes  of  the  poet's  life — youthful  im- 
maturity on  the  one  hand  and  a  close  approach  to 
perfected  accomplishment  on  the  other — a  compari- 
son between  these  two  periods  shows  the  greatest 
improvement  in  regard  to  purity  of  rime. 

23  types  of  impure  rime  are  represented  in  the 
first  period. 

5  types  are  discontinued  in  the  third  period. 
1 1   types  decrease  in  frequency  in  the  third  period. 

I   type  remains  constant  in  both. 

83 


THE  RIME  IN  SCHILLER'S  POEMS 
5  types  increase  in  the  final  period,  as  follows: 


a:  a,  o:  0,  u:  u 9  cases 

ei :  eu,  ei :  iiu   12  cases 

These  cases  of  increase  are  not  merely  apparent, 
but  real,  and  even  slightly  greater  than  appears 
here,  for  Schiller  wrote  twenty-eight  rimes  more 
in  the  first  period  than  in  the  last. 

The  total  number  of  impure  rimes  decreases  by 
153  in  the  third  period  as  compared  with  the  first. 

It  is  now  perfectly  obvious  that  the  few  cases 
of  increase  in  impure  rime  during  the  last  period 
are  found,  first,  in  the  combinations:  a:  a,  0:0, 
and  u:  u,  concerning  which  we  have  previously  es- 
tablished the  fact  (p.  74)  that  it  was  almost  im- 
possible for  the  Swabian  to  detect  his  own  habitual 
lengthening  of  short  open  vowels  under  stress;  and 
finally,  in  the  general  ei :  eu  type  of  the  diphthong 
group,  which  is  indeed  the  most  natural  combina- 
tion the  Swabian  can  use. 

The  following  facts  may  be  considered  direct 
evidence  for  Schiller's  improvement  of  rime: 

6  types  of  impure  rime  disappear  entirely  in  the 
third  period, 
1 1   types  decrease ;  aggregating  a  total  diminution 
of    153   cases,   arising  from   a  comparison  between 
the  first  and  third  period. 

Summary : 

Schiller  apparently  made  the  greatest  improve- 
ment in  the  use  of  rime  during  the  second  period. 

During  the  third  period,  as  compared  with  the 
second,    the    general    rime    quality    improves,    but 

84 


WANING  OF  SWABIAN  INFLUENCE 

slightly,  showing  small  variations  in  all  the  types 
but   four. 

We  are  impressed  with  the  sudden  improvement 
in  the  second  period,  marked  by  a  decrease  of  148 
impure  rimes,  as  compared  with  the  first ;  while 
the  third  period  shows  but  slight  improvement,  with 
a  decrease  of  only  five  rime  imperfections.  This 
is  doubtless  due  to  the  fact  that  Schiller  wrote 
nearly  all  of  the  poems  of  the  first  period  before 
coming  in  direct  contact  with  the  corrective  in- 
fluence of  the  North.  But  as  soon  as  this  influence 
asserted  itself,  the  number  of  imperfections  at  once 
became  decidedly  smaller.  It  is  but  natural  that 
the  improvement  did  not  continue  at  the  same  rate 
at  which  it  had  begun,  for  the  corrective  influence 
of  the  language  of  Middle  Germany  was,  of  course, 
strongest  in  the  beginning,  and  Schiller  presumably 
also  felt  the  rime-poverty  of  the  language  as  other 
German  poets  have  done.  Besides  this,  there  were 
many  imperfections  with  which  Schiller  never  be- 
came sufficiently  impressed  to  discontinue  their  use, 
and  several  of  them  even  seemed  so  perfect  that 
he  used  them  with  increasing  frequency. 


85 


IX 

SCHILLER'S  REVISION  OF  EAR- 
LIER POEMS 

A  comparison  of  some  of  the  earlier  poems  with 
later  revisions  of  the  same  does  not  add  materially 
to  the  facts  already  established  concerning  the  poet's 
development  in  the  use  of  the  rime,  as  will  appear 
from  a  minute  study  of  all  the  revisions  furnished 
us  by  Goedeke. 

I.    Die   Gotter   Griechenlandes. 

Both  the  original  as  well  as  the  revised  version 
fall  within  the  second  period;  the  former  appeared 
in  1788,  the  latter  in  1793.  The  first  five  stanzas 
show  no  change  whatever,  carrying  with  them  all 
the  original  rime  imperfections,  driicken  —  blicken 
in  the  second,  geweint  —  Freund  in  the  fourth,  and 
the  full  rime  Heroen  in  the  fifth  stanza.  Stanzas 
6,  7,  8,  9,  and  1 1  are  omitted  from  the  revision, 
with  two  cases  of  the  ie  :  ii  type  and  one  of  the 
eu  :  ei.  An  entirely  new  stanza  appears  in  the  re- 
vision of  the  sixth,  with  the  impure  rime  Gott  — 
Gebot.  The  fact  that  Schiller  uses  the  6:  6  rimes 
twice  as  often  in  the  third  period  as  in  the  first, 
and  also  introduces  it  into  the  revised  forms  of  his 
poems,  clearly  signifies  that  he  never  became  con- 
scious of  any  anomaly  in  the  natural  Swabian  tend- 
ency to  lengthen  a  vowel  under  stress.  The  eighth 
from  the  end  as  well  as  the  three  closing  stanzas 

86 


REVISION  OF  EARLIER  POEMS 

are  omitted  from  the  revision,  with  one  impurity 
in  eu  :  ei,  but  a  new  closing  stanza  is  added,  intro- 
ducing the  familiar  Swabian  o  ;  e  rime  in  Hohen 
—  untergehen.  Though  there  are  some  changes  in 
the  order  of  stanzas,  and  though  the  original  four- 
teenth and  fifteenth  stanzas  are  combined  in  one 
by  dropping  out  the  second  half  of  fourteen  and 
the  first  half  of  fifteen,  no  further  changes  in  rime 
are  thereby  affected. 

Now,  it  is  entirely  out  of  question  to  suppose 
that  these  ten  stanzas  of  eight  lines  each  were 
omitted  and  two  new  stanzas  written  for  the  sake 
of  improving  the  rime.  The  question  of  rime  had 
absolutely  nothing  to  do  with  it.  The  omitted 
stanzas  add  little,  if  anything,  to  the  general  pur- 
port of  the  poem  and  are  rather  vaguely  worded. 
The  force  as  well  as  the  general  tone  of  the  poem 
are  much  improved  by  the  revision,  and  this  must 
have  been  the  poet's  prune  if  not  sole  reason  for 
the  changes. 

2.    Hektor's  Abschied. 

Schiller's  first  version  of  this  poem  appeared  in 
1780,  bearing  the  title:  "Der  Abschied  Andro- 
machas  und  Hektors,"  while  the  revision  is  dated 

1793. 

Schiller  makes  a  change  in  the  very  first  rime, 
apparently,  but  not  probably,  to  avoid  the  s  :  ss  com- 
bination. Though  the  a  :  e  form  occurs  in  the  re- 
vision, we  must  bear  in  mind  that  that  is  phonetic- 
ally pure. 

1780: 

Willst  dich.  Hector,  ewig  mir  entreissen. 
Wo  des  Aeaciden  mordend  Eisen   .    .    . 

87 


THE  RIME  IN  SCHILLER'S  POEMS 

1793: 

Will  sich  Hektor  ewig  von  mir  wenden, 
Wo  Achill  mit  den  unnahbar'n  Handen    .    .    . 

It  does  not  seem  as  though  the  changes  were 
made  for  the  sake  of  improving  the  rime.  The 
sense  remains  the  same  in  both  cases,  though  the 
wording  in  the  latter  seems  somewhat  more  natural 
and  expressive. 

In  the  second  stanza  the  wording  is  slightly 
varied,  but  results  in  no  change  in  rimes,  except 
in  the  very  first  one,  where  the  perfect  rime  Todes- 
lanze  —  Kriegestanze,  in  the  first  edition,  is  re- 
placed later  by  the  practically  perfect  rime  Thrd- 
nen  —  Sehnen. 

In  the  revision  the  riming  of  secondary  with  pri- 
mary stress  is  introduced  in  the  combination  Perga- 
mus  —  Flusz. 

1780: 

Theures  Weib,  geh,  hoi  die  Todeslanze, 
Lasz  mich  fort  zum  wilden  Kriegestanze, 
Meine   Schultern   tragen    Ilium; 
Ueber  Astyanax  unsre  Gotter, 
Hektor  fallt,  ein  Vater-Lands  Erretter, 
Und  wir  sehn  uns  wieder  in  Elysium. 

1793: 

Theures  Weib,   gebiete  deinen  Thranen, 
Nach  der  Feldschlacht  ist  mein  feurig  Sehnen, 
Diese  Arme  schutzen  Fergamus. 
Kampfend  fiir  den  heil'gen  Heerd  der  Gotter 
Fall   ich,   und  des  Vaterlandes  Retter 
Steig'  ich  nieder  zu  dem  styg'schen  Flusz. 

88 


REVISION  OF  EARLIER  POEMS 

Aside  from  the  change  in  the  first  two  lines, 
there  is  also  a  change  in  the  riming  words  of  the 
third  and  sixth  lines,  though  the  rimes  are  good  in 
both  cases.  In  the  two  stanzas  just  quoted  there 
is  certainl)^  no  indication  of  attempted  rime  im- 
provement, for  the  rime  is  perfect  in  1780  (except- 
ing Goiter  —  Erretter,  which  also  remains  in  the 
revision),  but  not  so  absolutely  perfect  in  1793, 
though  Thranen  —  Sehnen  closely  approaches  pho- 
netic perfection. 

It  does  seem  that  the  changes  were  made  for  a 
better  wording  merely,  for  the  sense  remains  prac- 
tically the  same.  It  seems  barbarous  and  brutal 
for  Hektor  to  say  to  a  woman :  ^eh,  hoi  die  Todes- 
lanze.  Especially  do  the  closing  words  of  the  sec- 
ond line,  zum  wilden  Kriegestanze,  indicate  his  bar- 
barous madness  with  pleasant  anticipation  of  war 
and  bloodshed.  This  is  much  more  brutal  than  for 
him  to  say  in  a  mild  and  sympathetic  tone: 

Theures  Weib,   gebiete  deinen  Thranen, 

Nach  der  Feldschlacht  ist  mein  feurig  Sehnen  .  .  . 

There  can  be,  moreover,  nothing  more  indicative 
of  Schiller's  youthful  and  unrestrainable  enthusi- 
asm than  just  such  passages  as  this  original  from 
1780.  And  again,  nothing  could  be  more  truly 
representative  of  his  gentle  and  subdued  spirit  thir- 
teen years  later  than  the  revised  version  of  these 
same  thoughts  in  kind  and  loving  words.  Even 
the  last  line  of  the  revised  stanza  removes  the  blunt- 
ness  of  the  original. 

3.  The  poem  Amalia,  also  from  the  year  1780, 
consisted  originally  of  five  stanzas,  but  for  some  rea- 
son,   perhaps    because    it   gives   expression   to   such 

89 


THE  RIME  IN  SCHILLER'S  POEMS 

burning  passion,  Schiller  omitted  the  second  one  in 
his  revision  of  1793.  For  a  better  understanding, 
I   quote   it   in   this  connection: 

**Sein  Umarmen  —  wiitendes  Entziicken !  — 
Machtig,  feurig  klopfte  Herz  an  -Herz, 
Mund  und  Ohr  gefesselt — Nacht  vor  unsern 

Blicken — 
Und  der  Geist  gewirbelt  himmelwarts." 

Since  there  is  no  further  change  in  the  revision, 
the  same  two  imperfections  are  found  in  both  edi- 
tions. The  ii  :  ie  combination  is,  of  course,  of  fre- 
quent occurrence,  but  a  rare  peculiarity  appears  in 
the  form :  zitterten  —  liebenderij  for  it  is  not  only 
a  rime  between  medial  d  and  t,  but  also  shows  a 
discrepancy  between  other  consonants.  Since  the 
accent  is  on  the  root  syllable,  we  must  really  re- 
gard it  as  an  instance  of  the  trisyllabic  rime.  We 
have,  then,  in  the  first  syllable  disagreement  of 
vowel  quantity  and  consonants,  in  the  second  syl- 
lable disagreement  of  consonants,  and  in  the  third 
the  combination  of  medial  d  and  t.  The  combina- 
tion can  not  be  said  to  be  a  very  happy  one,  although 
it  does  not  offend  the  ear,  because  of  the  very  length 
of  the  words,  as  much  as  some  of  the  masculine 
and  feminine  impure  rimes. 

4.  Einer  jungen  Freundin  ins  Stammbuch 
was  written  in  1788.  The  revision  took  place  in 
1795.  A  comparison  shows  that  four  lines  were 
omitted  in  the  second  version,  but  one  new  line  in- 
serted, while  one  change  took  place  in  the  rime. 
The  unchanged  imperfections  consist  in  two  cases 
of  the  long  ii  :  i  type,  and  in  one  case  of  the  short 
u  :  i  type. 

90 


^    REVISION  OF  EARLIER  POEMS 

The  following  quotations  will  be  sufficient  evi- 
dence that  the  changes  were  made  for  an  improve- 
ment in  style,  and  not  in  rime. 
1788,  lines  5  to  9: 

"So  ist  sie  doch  nicht!  —  Die  Eroberungen, 
die  jeder   deiner   Blicke  siegreich   zahlt, 
die  deine  sanfte  Seele  dir  erzwungen, 

die  Statuen,   die  —  Dein  Gefiihl  beseelt, 
die  Herzen,  die  dein  eignes  dir  errungen  ..." 

It  is  exceedingly  interesting  to  notice  how  well 
the  original  passage  is  reproduced  in  only  two  lines: 
"So  ist  sie  nicht.     Die  stillen  Huldigungen, 
Die  deines  Herzens  Adel  dir  errungen   ..." 

Again,  taking  up  the  original  at  line  fourteen,  we 
have : 
"Dem  holden   Zauber  nie  entweyhter  Jugend, 
der  Engelgiite  macht'gem  Talisman, 
Der  Majestat  der  Unschuld  und  der  Tugend, 
den  will  ich  sehn — der  Diesem  trotzen  kann." 

These  verses  have  been  very  happily  revised  in 
the  following  manner: 
"Dem  holden  Zauber  nie  entweyhter  Jugend, 
Dem  Talisman  der  Unschuld  und  der  Tugend, 
Den  will  ich  sehn,  der  diesen  trotzen  kann." 

The  rime  in  this  last  line  is  not  incomplete,  as 
might  appear  here,  for  it  combines  with  an  in  the 
line  just  preceding  the  quotation. 

Immediately  following  the  above  quotation  from 
the  original,  we  find  the  lines: 
"Froh  taumelst  Du  im  siiszen   Ueberzahlen 
der  Gliicklichen,  die  Du  gemacht,  der  Seelen, 
die  Du  gewonnen  hast,  dahin." 
91 


THE  RIME  IN  SCHILLER'S  POEMS 

Now,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  the  rime  suggested  by 
the  word  dahin  is  left  incomplete,  for  there  is  no 
other  word  with  which  it  can  be  made  to  rime. 
Of  the  twenty-nine  lines  in  the  original  poem,  this 
is  the  odd  one,  without  a  mate  in  rime. 

As  we  have  seen  above,  four  lines  have  been 
omitted  from  the  revision,  again  leaving  an  uneven 
number,  and  thereby  necessitating  some  kind  of  an 
irregularity  in  rime.  Obviously,  to  avoid  this  ir- 
regularity, Schiller  inserts  a  new  line,  mainly  to 
complete  the  rime;  but  he  thereby  also  suggests  a 
new  thought,  for  "Blumen"  are  the  gifts  of  kind 
fate,  while  the  "Gliicklichen"  are  because  of  her 
charm  and  kindness.  The  revision  reads  as  fol- 
lows: 

*Troh  taumelst  du  im  siiszen  Ueberzahlen 
Der  Blumen,  die  um  deine  Pfade  bliihn, 
Der  Gliicklichen,  die  du  gemacht,  der  Seelen, 
Die  du  gewonrten  hast,  dahin." 

In  this  connection  we  can  not  speak  of  rime  im- 
provement, but  merely  of  rime  completion,  for  in 
completing  the  rime,  Schiller  employs  the  long  ii  : 
short  i  combination. 

5.    Die  Ideale  is  dated  1795  and  1800. 

In  the  first  stanza  Schiller  makes  no  change, 
using  the  rime  scheiden  —  Freuden  in  both.  The 
second  half  of  the  second  stanza  and  the  first  half 
of  the  third,  as  well  as  the  seventh  stanza  entirely, 
are  omitted,  thereby  eliminating  two  impurities. 
The  remaining  stanzas  are  somewhat  changed  in 
order  as  well  as  wording,  but  neither  the  original 
nor  the  revised  version  employ  anything  but  good 
rime  throughout. 

92 


REVISION  OF  EARLIER  POEMS 

The  most  striking  change  appears  in  the  fourth 
stanza  of  the  original,  which  occurs  in  the  revision 
as  part  of  the  third. 

1795: 

"So   schlangen   meiner   Liebe   Knoten 
Sich  um  die  Saule  der  Natur, 
Bis  durch  das  starre  Herz  der  Todten 
Der  Strahl  des  Lebens  suckend  fuhr." 

1800: 

"So  schlang  ich  mich  mit  Liebesarmen 
Um  die  Natur,  mit  Jugendlust, 
Bis  sie  zu  athmen,   zu  erwarmen 
Begann  an  meiner  Dichterbrust." 

Here  again  the  rime  had  nothing  to  do  with  the 
change,  since  it  is  pure  in  both  versions.  The  de- 
sire for  a  more  lucid  style  must  have  been  the 
controlling  reason  for  the  change. 

6.  Die  Theilung  der  Erde  was  written  in  1795 
and  revised  in  1799.  The  first  two  stanzas  remain 
unchanged,  carrying  with  them  the  rimes:  Hohen 
—  Lehen,  einzurichten  —  Friichten,  Alt  —  Wald. 
In  the  revision  of  the  third  stanza  two  impure  rimes 
{ei:  eu  and  d  :  t  final)  are  avoided,  but  a  short  a  : 
long  a  rime  fassen  —  Straszcn)   is  introduced. 

1795: 

"Der    Kaufmann    fiillte    hurtig   sein    Gewolb,    die 
Scheune 

Der  Fermier,  das  Fasz  der  Seelenhirt, 
Der  Konig  sagte:  Jeglichem  das  Seine: 

Und  mein  ist  —  was  gearntet  wird !" 

93 


THE  RIME  IN  SCHILLER'S  POEMS 

1799: 

"Der  Kaufmann  nimmt,  was  seine  Speicher  fassen, 
Der  Abt  wahlt  sich  den  edlen   Firnewein, 

Der  Konig  sperrt  die  Briicken  und  die  Straszen, 
Und  sprach,   der  Zehente   ist  mein." 

It  does  not  seem  at  all  probable  that  Schiller 
undertook  the  revision  of  this  stanza  with  a  view 
to  rime  improvement.  The  fact  is  that  there  is 
no  improvement  worth  mentioning,  for  the  final 
d:t  in  Seelenhirt  —  wird  is  surely  just  as  pure  to 
the  Swabian  as  it  is  to  the  North  German,  who 
accepts  it  as  phonetically  pure.  Besides,  we  recall 
from  page  78  that  Schiller  used  the  d  :  t  final  rime 
with  greater  frequency  in  the  third  than  in  the 
second  period.  This  indicates  that  he  always  con- 
sidered it  a  good  rime.  Since  the  revision  of  this 
poem  took  place  about  the  middle  of  the  last  period, 
there  can  have  been  no  thought  on  the  poet's  part 
of  avoiding  this  combination,  and  its  non-occurrence 
in  the  revision  is  purely  accidental. 

As  to  the  dropping  of  the  ei :  eu  rime  in  Scheune 
—  Seine  and  the  using  of  the  short  a  :  long  a  com- 
bination in  the  revised  version,  I  am  equally  con- 
vinced that  it  was  not  intentional,  but  accidental; 
for  both  forms  are  strictly  Swabian  characteristics, 
which  make  them  equivalent  to  Scheine  —  Seine  and 
fassen  —  Straszen.  Now,  there  could  be  no  ad- 
vantage whatsoever  in  dropping  the  one  in  order 
to  use  the  other.  The  change  was  made,  as  I  be- 
lieve, merely  for  a  better  and  clearer  wording  with- 
out any  regard   for   rime   improvement. 

There  are  no  further  imperfections  in  either  the 
original  or  the  revised  version  of   this  poem. 

94 


REVISION  OF  EARLIER  POEMS 

This  completes  the  list  of  Schiller's  revised  poems, 
as  furnished  by  Goedeke.  The  study  of  these  re- 
visions adds  little  if  any  to  our  previous  conclu- 
sions on  rime  improvement,  aside  from  reassuring 
us  that  the  most  satisfactory  and  definite  evidence 
of  the  extent  of  Schiller's  rime  improvement  is  to 
be  found  in  the  general  comparison  between  the 
poems  of  the  first  and  last  period,  as  given  on 
page  83  f. 

BIBLIOGRAPHY 

1.  Belling,  Eduard — Die  Metrik  Schillers. 

2.  Deutsche     National-Literatur,     Schillers     Ge- 

dichte. 

3.  Fischer,  Hermann — Schwdbisches  Worterbuch. 

4.  Goebel,  Julius — Einleitung  zu  Goethes  Gedich- 

ten,  Goethe  Jahrbuch,  1901. 

5.  Goedeke,  Karl — Schillers  sdmmtliche  Schriften, 

Hist.-Krit.,  Ausg.  1871. 

6.  Hempl,  Geo. — German  Orthography  and  Pho- 

nology. 

7.  Hildebrand,  Rudolf — Beitrdge  zum  Deutschen 

Unterricht. 

8.  Kaufifman,  Fr. — Schwdbische  Mundart. 

9.  Koberstein,  August — Grundriss  der  Geschichte 

der  Deut.  Nationallit. 

10.  Kluge,    Fr. — Deutsches   Etymologisches.  Wor- 

terbuch. 

11.  Meyers     Klassiker    Ausgaben — Schillers     Ge- 

dichte. 

12.  Minor,    J. — Neuhochdeutsche  Metrik j   zweite 

Auflage. 

13.  Muncker,  Franz — Briefwechsel  zwischen  Schil- 

ler und  Humboldt. 

.95 


t<*  V, 


THE  RIME  IN  SCHILLER'S  POEMS 

14.  Paul  und  Braune — Beitrage  zur  Geschichte  der 

deutschen  Sprache. 

15.  Putsche,  Karl  Eduard — Schillers  Gedichte. 

16.  Rudolph,  Ludwig — Schiller  Lexikon. 

17.  Sievers,  Eduard — Phonetik. 

18.  Viehoff,   Heinrich — Schillers  Gedichte  erkldrt 

und  erldutert. 

19.  Victor,     Wilhelm — Elemente     der     Phonetik 

(1904). 
"20.    Vollmer,  W. — Briefwechsel  zwischen  Schiller 

und  Goethe. 
21.    Wehnert,  Bruno — Goethes  Reim. 

VITA 

William  Charles  Hilmer  was  born  May  11, 
1 87 1,  near  Waterloo,  Iowa.  He  received  his  early 
education  in  the  public  schools  of  Reinbeck  and 
Gladbrook.  His  preparatory  work  for  the  college 
course  was  largely  done  in  the  Academy  of  Iowa 
Wesleyan  University  and  in  Charles  City  College. 

In  1899  he  received  the  degree  of  B.  A.  in  the 
classical  course  at  German  Wallace  College,  Berea, 
Ohio. 

For  six  years  he  occupied  the  chair  of  German 
and  French  in  the  Upper  Iowa  University;  in  the 
meantime  doing  three  summer  Quarters'  work  in 
the  Graduate  School  of  the  University  of  Chicago. 
In  1906  he  became  Assistant  in  German  at  the 
University  of  Illinois,  completing  his  resident  work 
for  the  doctorate  in  June,  1908.  For  two  years 
he  was  Instructor  in  German  in  Oberlin  College, 
submitting  his  thesis  for  the  degree  in   19 10. 


96 


GAYLORD    BROS. 

MAKERS 

SYRACUSE. -M.Y, 

PAT.  J*N.  ai.iooa 


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